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Cavaliers' collective calm should worry the Warriors ahead of Game 6

There have been moments that were too big for LeBron James.

There have been moments that were too big for LeBron James.

The Eastern Conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics in 2010, and the 2011 NBA Finals when James’ Miami Heat met the Dallas Mavericks come to mind.

But there’s been sizable growth in James’ mental game since then. James’ epic Game 5 on Monday night in the NBA Finals (41 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, while facing elimination no less) was even more evidence of the progress he’s made. It was quickly framed as a legacy game and compared to his masterpiece in Boston in 2012 - a win that staved off elimination in the Conference Finals and chipped away at the notion that he wasn’t a clutch performer.

But James wasn’t much for comparisons.

“Going into Boston, being down 3-2, you know we understood that, hey, listen, the season is over if we don’t go out and try to take care of business,” James said after Game 5. “I had to come out and do some things to help us win that ballgame, and tonight was just another example of that.”

Unlike his 45-point, 15-rebound game vs. the Celtics, James had significant help in handing the Warriors a rare home defeat. Kyrie Irving was “special,” as James put it, scoring a playoff career-high 41 points on 17-of-24 shooting that put him among basketball luminaries in terms of efficiency. Asked what was so spectacular about the 24-year-old’s night, James turned to his demeanor while facing elimination.

“Just calm. Calm for 48 minutes. Obviously he played 40 minutes, but even in the eight minutes that he was sitting down, he was just calm,” James. “Timely bucket after bucket that led our team.”

Sitting to Irving’s right on the press conference podium, those words weren’t insignificant coming from a player both as scrutinized and celebrated as James. For Irving to hit the type of twisting, turnaround jumpers with one of the NBA’s preeminent defenders Klay Thompson draped all over him on the road in an elimination game, James had accurately described Irving’s performance.

Wednesday, two days after the Cavaliers had tricked fate into giving them at least one more game, James was again asked if anything stuck out about head coach Ty Lue’s message ahead of that Game 5.  

“Some of things that he said I won’t bring out to the table because it’s for locker room use only, but just his sense of calmness," he said. "His sense of just stay in the moment has definitely given, especially the young guys, just a confidence booster. For us as a group, when you have someone that calm and that collected about what needs to be done and just stay in the moment it just helps us go out and do our job.”

James, who wore a backwards ‘90s hat that could’ve easily been yanked off the set of one of his favorite shows, Fresh Prince, doesn’t seem burdened by the fact that his Finals record could drop to 2-5 all-time. Well versed in the history of the game, James is aware that no team has come back from a 3-1 Finals deficit, and just two of those teams have even forced a Game 7. The last time it happened was 1966. The Cavs are one home win away from beating the odds just by doing that.

They’ve already put the pressure back on the Warriors by winning Game 5. That was supposed to be it, the Warriors’ back-to-back coronation celebrated at Oracle Arena. And perhaps the Cavaliers have just delayed the inevitable, an extension of a season that ends the same way as last years. But maybe there’s a pervasive composure about the Cavaliers that’s kept them in this series.

Up 3-2, Steve Kerr said he feels good about the Warriors’ chances, and history is on their side. But the Cavs’ sense of calm should worry the defending champions. They’ve got nothing to lose. 

Follow Michael Singer on Twitter @msinger.

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