'Ultra aggressive' LeBron James channels 'attack mode' to fuel Cavaliers

CLEVELAND — LeBron James doesn't like to predetermine how he's going to play in a game. He doesn't like to come out with an aggressive attack before reading how the defense is going to play. James doesn't want to be a volume shooter, preferring efficient basketball.

But the circumstances – down 1-0 to the Chicago Bulls with no Kevin Love and no J.R. Smith and with an unpredictable mix of playoff newbies and veterans – called for exactly that kind of play.

Not only did the situation call for it, but James' Cavaliers teammates called for it, too: Come in with an aggressive mindset, attack early in the first quarter and shoot as much as necessary in Game 2 of this Eastern Conference semifinals series.

"For me, I had to change my approach tonight knowing how shorthanded we are and be ultra-aggressive," James said. "Kyrie (Irving) wanted me to be ultra-aggressive, which I'm not accustomed to doing, especially taking that many shots. I've never been a high-volume shooter. But I have to respond to my teammates. What my teammates want me to do, I try to succeed at doing it. This is a change of mindset for myself, and I have to do it if that's what my guys want me to do."

In Cleveland's 106-91 Game 2 victory over the Bulls, James scored a game-high 33 points, had eight rebounds and five assists, was a plus-31 and took 29 shots, the most since the 2009 playoffs when he attempted 30 shots against the Orlando Magic.

"There wasn't one possession where you could look on the floor and he wasn't dominant," Irving. "He was all over, which we expect him to do. When he has that killer mindset and not really caring what's going on except for his teammates, he's the greatest player in the game right now."

Game 3 is Friday in Chicago (8 p.m. ET, ESPN), and James knew, "We can't go down 2-0 on our home floor."

James scored 14 points in the first quarter, had his hand in Cleveland first 10 points through assists and scoring, and the Cavs led 38-18 after the opening 12 minutes.

"The story of the game was the first quarter. They smashed us," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.

This was the bounce back game the Cavaliers needed from James, who admitted that his near triple-double in Game 1 – 19 points, 15 rebounds, nine assists – was not an efficient or acceptable performance.

"The important thing is 'Bron was typical LeBron," Cavs coach David Blatt said. "Very aggressive, in attack mode, engaged and leading his guys by example and vocally."

(In a meaningless aside in terms of his performance but apparently plenty meaningful on social media, James wore his trademark headband for the first time since March 10, saying, "It was time for it to make a comeback.)

This was James' 51st playoff game after a loss, and his teams improved to 35-16 (68.6%) in those games, and he has averaged 29 points, 8.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists and shot 48.3% from the field and 32.8% on three-pointers – pretty similar to his career playoff averages of 27.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 48.1% from the field and 32.8% on threes.

James' statistics are often taken for granted, as if 27-8-6 are everyday numbers. For James they are everyday numbers, but he is the only player to average at least 27 points, eight rebounds and six assists in the playoffs, according to basketball-reference.com. Just two others averaged at least 25-5-5: Michael Jordan and Jerry West.

After practice on Tuesday and after shootaround on Wednesday morning, James hinted he might come out with a scorer's mentality but explained why that's not his nature.

"I don't really like to go into the game thinking too much about how I'm going to perform," he said. "AlI I care about is how our team is going to perform. I got a lot going on in my mind as far as the game plan, what I need to do to help our team win, what our team needs to do to win instead of worrying about how I'm going to approach the game."

But this is a younger team at key positions: Irving, Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova have never played in the postseason prior to now, and Timofey Mozgov has limited playoff experience, and James is the unquestioned leader.

"I've grown as a leader over the years, and they've given me the right to voice my opinion, to command excellence," James said. "I demand excellence out of my teammates and I do it myself and I hope that they continue to try and get it out of me as well.

"This guy next to me (Irving) demanded excellence out of myself. Obviously, I wasn't perfect, but I tried to be as perfect as I could be. And we responded to one another."

Irving had 21 points, Iman Shumpert had 15 points, including 10 in the first quarter, Matthew Dellavedova had nine points and nine assists, James Jones scored 17 points and hit five three-pointers and Tristan Thompson collected 12 rebounds, including six offensive boards that saved possessions and led to 10 points.

James said Game 1 was a feel-out game, and after winning Game 2, James said he has a sense of how the Bulls want to play.

"I know what they like to do, what they love to do, what they don't like to do, and I know there's some opportunities for us to be better," James said. "As good as I think we were tonight, there were still some possessions, some time in the third quarter where we had another one of those lapses and we can't do that especially on Friday in their building."

James has no idea how the series will go or if the Cavs will win. But he has a very good sense of how he needs to play if the Cavs are going to win.