LeBron James is alone again, naturally

Out of nowhere, LeBron James finally got his old Cleveland Cavaliers back.

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He got his big lumbering center, ready to throw wildly-whipped passes to. He got his off-ball point guard, ready to spot up and fling flat-footed jumpers while the defense was keyed in elsewhere. He got his swingman friends, unspectacular but on the ready, and he got his dogged little reserve point guard buddy. He got his Cavs.

This was supposed to be North Beach. This was supposed to be an updated version of James’ Miami Heat teams, working with a younger backcourt All-Star and a younger stretch power forward and an actual center that seemed fit for the modern era. As it stands, however, the wear and tear of a long regular season and the surprising and unfortunate tug of an unexpectedly harsh first round series have decimated these Cavaliers.

Yet, through it all, this remain the most successful team in the East. Winners of seven out of nine games, tied for the best winning percentage in the postseason, and one game away from making it to the Eastern Conference finals.

James’ old Cavaliers were no stranger to that stage, as they made the third round twice during his initial run in northern Ohio. One run saw the team surprisingly make the Finals. Another, in LeBron’s penultimate year with Cleveland, saw the squad upset by the Orlando Magic. Neither satisfied, for whatever reason, mainly because James’ supporting cast was so poor. He had to do nearly all the heavy lifting, while types like Eric Snow or Mo Williams bounded about, working as his lone release.

The 2014-15 version of Cleveland’s Cavaliers were designed to be different. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were established All-Stars. No playoff record to their name, to be sure, but the talent was undeniable. The team only finished with the East’s second-best record, a bit of a disappointment, but in this conference these things can be explained away. And James, after four straight Finals trips and a dozen years’ worth of heavy minutes, understood that pacing was key.

In three weeks’ time, however, nearly all was stripped away. Instead of North Beach, James was handed Blues Beach — an updated version of his old Cavaliers team. Love was lost for the season following shoulder surgery. Irving sprained his right foot and then, due to overcompensation, developed a nagging bout of left knee tendonitis. Suddenly James Jones was playing significant minutes that he couldn’t get even on a runner-up Miami team last year. Mike Miller started a game. Matthew Dellavedova is what we call a “key contributor.”

And it all came back to James, once again. He had to take 30 shots, making just 10, to rescue Cleveland’s season in Game 4 – nailing a desperate game-winner at the buzzer. He had to routinely head to the low post in Game 5, scoring at will and only passing when he knew he could amplify the confidence of both his teammates and the Cleveland crowd. He’ll have to do the same thing in what could be a clinching Game 6 on Thursday against a lacking Chicago squad, one working with a coach that is warring with both his front office and the ever-changing tide of the NBA play-calling landscape, losing that battle on both fronts.

Chicago is a disappointing outfit. The team remains chock full of offense-first contributors, and yet the team can’t buy a bucket for long stretches of games both important and unremarkable. The squad’s coaching staff does not perform well within a game structure; the team routinely fails to think on its feet when presented with an obstacle that was not discussed during that day’s shootaround or the previous day’s practice. Key members of the team have been rendered ineffective due to overuse that dates from years back. Others just prefer to play the martyr, walking the ball up and taking plays off.

Worse, Cleveland appears to have gotten inside the team’s head. Center Joakim Noah could have been hit with two different taunting technical fouls in Game 5 besides the T he actually received, and Taj Gibson was rattled enough to spend an entire possession lobbing cheap shots at Dellavedova – only drawing attention once Dellavedova leg-locked the Chicago forward prior to his ejection.

Following that ejection, Gibson watched as one dingbat fan tossed a water bottle in his direction. Gibson thought the move typical of the city:

“That’s what happens when you’re in Cleveland,” Gibson said. “[That’s the] second time in a row they threw stuff at us. It’s classless, but we’re here to play basketball. I can’t focus on that kind of stuff.”

Gibson can’t, but that’s how these Bulls work. For all the “next man up”-posturing, there’s always an excuse. What could have been an all-world offense paired with a good-enough defense was relegated to the ranks of the above-average after 82 regular season games, and the team is one loss away from hitting the offseason and hoping its basketball-indifferent owner will match any offer for two-way star Jimmy Butler in the restricted free agent market.

Cleveland has its fair share of louts, it should be noted. From fans storming the court to embarrassing reflexes, the franchise’s recent history has not been proud. That was all supposed to change this season, though, with James ostensibly in his prime joining two emerging superstars in Love and Irving.

Love is out and Irving is hobbled, though, and James has had to do things mostly by himself. Kyrie was brilliant in Game 5, scoring 25 points in the win, but he again played the role of Mo Williams through no fault of his own. It feels an awful lot like 2009 around here.

That 2009 team, however, had more than enough to win a championship, because it had LeBron James dominating on both ends. The same has carried over, with LeBron hitting fadeaway after fadeaway over the indefatigable Jimmy Butler. LeBron James, once again, is shooting for a championship just about by his lonesome.

And it’s once again damned impressive that, honestly, he’ll have enough.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops