The Cavs followed the lead of LeBron James to a 105-101 win over the Pacers in Game 7 of their first round series, advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals for a date with the Toronto Raptors.
Cleveland got 45 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists from LeBron as he played 43 minutes in the decisive Game 7, but for a brief stretch, there was concern about whether the Cavs would have to finish the game without him. With just over a minute to go in the third quarter, James exited the game for the first time and headed straight for the locker room.
When he still wasn’t on the bench come the start of the fourth quarter, Cavs fans grew more concerned. Eventually, LeBron emerged from the tunnel and sat on the bench as the broadcast announced he was battling cramps. James sat on the bench with a towel around his neck, housing orange slices as he attempted to get his muscles to cooperate.
Eventually, the orange slices, water, and Gatorade did their jobs and LeBron returned to the court with just over eight minutes to play in the game and led the Cavs to the win. However, while he was back in the locker room, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, James refused the team doctors’ attempt to give him an IV, because he was worried they would take too much time.
Team doctors offered IV fluids to James but there was no time. Instead, James drank and ate orange slices. By the time he was back on the bench, the Cavs had increased their lead to nine points.
LeBron would speak after the game about the “minor injury” he had to take care of, seemingly refusing to say the word “cramp” because of his past with that issue, and eventually left his press conference early citing how he was “burnt” and wanted to go home to rest. James put forth a Herculean effort in Game 7 and while the Cavs extended the lead in near miraculous fashion with him trying to get the cramps to go away, had he taken the IV and missed another three or four minutes, who knows if the rest could have held on.
The Pacers made their run, as they did every time Cleveland opened up a lead in the series, but James’ presence on the floor allowed him to ultimately shut the door on Indiana. Had he not been there, who knows if Victor Oladipo could have pushed the Pacers through to Toronto. LeBron doesn’t like to talk about his legacy, but he is keenly aware of it and knew in that moment that he couldn’t sit in the back taking an IV while his team battled out the fourth quarter of a Game 7.
Even though he had 38 points in three quarters, the take storm that would have arrived had he not returned and the Cavs had lost (hell, or even if they’d held on to win) would’ve been unreal. James wouldn’t allow that. He took a risk that his body would cooperate and, as it has so many times before, it did and the rest is history. My one suggestion moving forward will be not to let him try and play “the whole game,” as he vowed to do in Game 7, because even for a superhuman like LeBron that may be too much to ask of his body.
