LeBron James played the entire first quarter of Game 7 of Cavs-Pacers, scoring 13 points to give Cleveland a healthy 31-19 lead going into the second quarter. Then when the second quarter started, James stayed on the court and did not spend any time on the bench prior to halftime.
In 24 minutes, James scored 26 points with five assists and four rebounds, going 10-of-12 from the field. For anyone wondering if LeBron will be taking a rest in the second half, it appears that he plans on playing all 48 minutes to ensure the Cavs don’t have a chance of letting things slip away without him on the floor.
In the second quarter, someone courtside apparently asked James whether he’d be taking a breather any time soon and James told them he’ll be playing “the whole game.”
"Whole game … I'm playing the whole game."
LeBron hasn't left the floor. pic.twitter.com/TxYLNTCoPK
— ESPN (@espn) April 29, 2018
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst says it was in the direction of his family section, as the James clan apparently wanted to know if he was heading to the bench at all on Sunday afternoon.
We just need to mic the LeBron family section. He just told them he's playing the whole game.
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) April 29, 2018
James’ intensity waned for a bit in the early second quarter, and the Pacers rattled off a 10-0 run and pulled to within 4 points of the Cavs, but then LeBron simply turned it back on and went into attack mode. James scored nine straight points for Cleveland in the span of 90 seconds to extend the Cavs lead from seven points to 14 points and keep Indiana at bay.
The Pacers apparently won’t get a reprieve from the James onslaught any time in the second half, so they’ll have to time their runs to when the Cavs bring in Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, and Jeff Green around James and hope that LeBron runs out of gas and has no switch left to flip late.
