LeBron James Flips The Defensive Switch And Shuts Down Carmelo Anthony In The Second Half

LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony
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After he rescued the Cleveland Cavaliers from a loss to the New York Knicks on the world’s biggest basketball stage with an utterly dominant fourth quarter, LeBron James explained that Father Time and 12 prior seasons of wear and tear wouldn’t keep him from playing his game.

“I’m on the floor. I’m going to do what I do,” the 30-year-old told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “If I’m on the floor, I’m going to play my game. I’m going to be diving for loose balls. I’m going to take charges. I’m going to guard the best player, sometimes, and I’m going to exert a lot of energy. That’s just who I am. I got to this point in my career by being that player. And I won’t stop just because I have miles and games and Finals appearances. It’s just not me.”

James played a season-high 39 minutes on Friday night. He scored 31 points and doled-out six assists overall while matching the Knicks’ 12 points in the final stanza all by his lonesome. None of that’s necessarily new. The four-time MVP has played at an elite level in 2015-16’s early going, showing no ill-effects gleaned from yet another trip to the NBA Finals – something he couldn’t say at the beginning of last season.

His performance against the Knicks, though, still stood out compared to others in late October and early November. Why? After Carmelo Anthony roasted the Cavaliers for 22 first-half points on 8-of-11 shooting, James took the onus of defending New York’s high-powered scorer from that point forward.

The results of his suffocating defense on Anthony were even more impressive than this video suggests.

The Knicks superstar scored just four points on 1-of-9 shooting after intermission. He missed all six shots on which James was his closest defender in the second half after having his way with both Richard Jefferson and J.R. Smith during the game’s first 24 minutes.

Watching James out-muscle, out-pace, and out-smart the immensely gifted Anthony time and again was a forceful reminder that he remains among the several-best individual defenders in basketball – when he wants to be, of course. There’s just no reason for Cleveland’s hometown hero to consistently push himself in that regard during the regular season, and David Blatt knows it, too. It’s Jefferson who’s drawn the opponent’s most dangerous wing player thus far, and that responsibility will be Iman Shumpert’s when he makes a full recovery from a broken wrist.

What a luxury for the Cavaliers, though, that they have a defensive ace in the hole whenever the need to play it arises. And apparently, going toe-to-toe with his longtime friend under the game’s brightest lights in mid-November serves as that rare occasion. Just imagine, then, what James will do defensively when the competitive stakes rise come spring.

(Via ESPN)

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