Lue knows how to push James’ buttons
CLEVELAND — When LeBron James was asked about Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue challenging him at halftime of Wednesday’s victory over the Brooklyn Nets, James was clearly perturbed.
Perhaps not only because it happened, but because Lue revealed to the media what had been said behind closed doors.
“I told him at halftime, ‘You messing around,’ ” Lue said after the 119-109 victory. “But I didn’t say ‘messing around.’ ”
James shrugged his shoulders, smirked and paused for a moment. Then he thought back to a poor series of plays after he missed a spectacular fastbreak dunk attempt with 3:39 left in the first quarter. After that, coincidence or not, the Cavs lost their focus.
“Whatever T-Lue say goes, so, you know, he knows how to challenge me sometimes,” James said.
Although James clanked consecutive three-pointers after the failed slam, he seemed to imply that Lue’s timeout at the 2:41 mark had as much to do with the Cavs allowing the Nets to cut their nine-point lead to three at the end of the quarter.
“After the dunk, I came and pulled up for a three gotta be better, which I was in the second half.”
James scored 23 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, including a string of 18 in a row starting with 4:25 to play.
No matter how dangerous it might seem, Lue has riled up James before. The two had a similar conversation at halftime of Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals against the Warriors and the Cavs went on to win the title.
This season Lue has praised James, but not effusively, even though James ranks third in the league in scoring (28.6 points per game) and fourth in assists (8.3) while a month shy of his 33rd birthday.
Lue said he has learned that an occasional tough talk with James is more effective at motivating him than pulling him out of the game. Lue’s no-holds-barred comments could be a product of a disappointing 11-7 record, even as the Cavs won their sixth consecutive game.
James’ fourth-quarter firestorm was unleashed after he was head-butted by ex-Cavs center Tyler Zeller with 9:30 left in the third quarter.
When James returned with 4:33 left in the quarter, a piece of tape covering stitches he needed above his lip, the Cavs trailed 69-62 against the team they’d lost to at Brooklyn on Oct. 25.
James leads the league in fourth-quarter scoring with a 10-point average, ahead of the New York Knicks’ Kristaps Porzingis (7.7). When guard Isaiah Thomas returns from the torn labrum in his right hip, he may take some of the late-game burden off James.
“My team looks at me to be that scorer now,” James said. “The last couple years, Kyrie obviously being as great as he was in the fourth quarter, we kind of picked our games. There were games half the time that he had it going and, ‘Hey, go get (it).’ There were games half the time where I had it going and I’d go get it.
“But right now my teammates look at me and they’re like, ‘OK, like this is your quarter.’ It’s very important that I try to come through for them.”