WE UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING STARTS AND STOPS WITH HIM.

can average 36 points per game seemingly without much effort.

This time, the Raptors know they will again have to concede something to the league’s best player, whom Casey labelled the “head of the snake” on Monday. He meant it as a compliment.

“We understand everything starts and stops with him. There’s certain things you want to give up with him and there’s certain things you have no choice in the matter. There’s a pecking order as far as what we want to give up, what we live with,” Casey said. “It’ll be a chess match, trying to stay a step ahead of what they’re trying to do.”

The Toronto coach wouldn’t tip his hand, but what they will almost certainly try to do is force James into mid-range jump shots, while limiting the easy layups. The Indiana Pacers doubtless thought the same thing in the first round and James still averaged over 34 points per game while making more two-point baskets than anyone else in the playoffs.

The one other thing that the Raptors might — and emphasis on the might part of this sentence — benefit from is the possibility that James could be a little weary. We have seen him play so much at this time of year for so long that it has just become accepted fact that he will simply carry on like an unstoppable basketball machine, but at some point it’s possible he shows just a little humanity.

James, at 33 years old, passed Tim Duncan this year for top spot on the list of career playoff minutes played. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sits third. Those two guys retired at 40 and 42. James is also 18th in career regular-season minutes played, despite being 54th in career regularseason games played. Just when it seemed like he was entering a mildly cautious phase of his career, with scheduled days off and the occasional mid-season vacation, James went back to playing all 82 games this season and led the NBA in minutes. He has also led the playoffs in minutes this season.

In Game 7 against the Pacers, he said he expected to play the entire game, then sat for about five minutes after he suffered cramps. He said afterward he was “burnt.” Casey is not buying it. “Well, if he told you he’s tired, he’s not being very honest, I don’t think,” Casey said. “I’m not saying he’s a lying man, but I don’t think he’s tired. He’s been through too many of these and he’s professional enough to know how to buy time or save energy or whatever it is. We’re going into it and approach it like it’s a fresh James in those situations.”

That’s a smart plan. Expecting him to actually fatigue would be less so.