Golden State Warriors: Six plays that broke LeBron James’ spirit

4. The Warriors on the break

The Golden State Warriors have more firepower than anyone in the NBA, including the Cleveland Cavaliers They were dominant, smacking the Cavs in five games. No matter what they did, Cleveland just couldn’t stop them.

In the half court setting, the Warriors are scary. In an open game, the Dubs are nearly unstoppable. The Cavaliers let them get out and run.

In Game 1, Kevin Durant had a handful of wide open dunks because there was no resistance. The Cavaliers did nothing to stop him. They invited him to walk down the lane.

LeBron James may be the best player in the NBA, but let’s not pretend that he’s at the peak of his powers. James was at his best when he was in Miami because that version cared about defense. This one doesn’t.

Yes, you can cite last year’s potentially game-saving block on Andre Iguodala as evidence to suggest otherwise. The point isn’t that James can’t occasionally make those great plays once again. The point is that he doesn’t care anymore; James’ effort is laughable, at best, most of the time and his communication is even worse.

Look at this play above. To be fair to James, he was in between a rock and a hard place. He, either, had to leave Steph Curry open at the three-point line or let Kevin Durant have a wide open look at the rim. He decided to go with the latter.

But, if you look at it again, he didn’t communicate very well with Kyrie Irving. The two of them jumped at Curry. And, before Durant even rose up, James’ body language looked dejected. He looked defeated in Game 1 of the NBA Finals after another defensive breakdown.

James’ body language says it all. This sequence hurt him.