Spurs slam door on LeBron
SAN ANTONIO — Finally free from the clutches of San Antonio's stranglehold, LeBron James took a deep breath and found a positive on an otherwise dreary night.
His overhyped and disappointing debut was over, but he and the Cleveland Cavaliers were not finished.
"It's not like the NCAA tournament," he said, "where you have one game and you're out."
No, these are the finals.
Plural.
Dealing with two and three Spurs almost everywhere he went, James was harassed and humbled in his first foray into the NBA finals on Thursday night as the Spurs swallowed him whole in an 85-76 win in Game 1 over the Cavaliers.
James scored 14 points on 4-of-16 shooting and made six turnovers as the Spurs applied the clamps to Cleveland's 22-year-old star, who looked his age for once.
"It was definitely crowded," James said of his experience on the AT&T Center's floor. "If I went by one guy, another guy stepped up. It's definitely something I'm going to have to make an adjustment for in Game 2."
Tim Duncan had 24 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks, and Tony Parker added 27 points and seven assists for the Spurs, who began their quest for a fourth championship since 1999 with a defensive clinic on James.
With the eyes of Texas, a curious hoops nation and the world upon him, James, who has rarely failed to rise to any occasion, flopped like never before. With Bruce Bowen chasing him to every corner, James couldn't unleash his multifaceted game on the Spurs.
"He struggled mightily," Caves coach Mike Brown said of his franchise player. "They closed down the paint, and we tried to pick-and-roll with him. When he did get in the paint, he wasn't able to finish."
This was hardly the series opener James, the NBA or ABC-TV executives, had hoped for. His arrival at the finals had been trumpeted as the next coming of Michael Jordan, the player to whom James is often compared.
But James wasn't Jordanesque. Not even close.
He had one of the worst games of his brief postseason career and came nowhere near matching His Airness' first game in the finals when he scorched the Los Angeles Lakers for 36 points on June 2, 1991.
Jordan owned June, making the season's climactic month his personal playground. Right now, James can only dream of such success.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Sunday night in San Antonio. Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) will be in Cleveland.
The Spurs' game plan was to make it tough for James to score. They made it nearly impossible as Bowen forced him toward the sideline and away from the foul lane — his personal runway to dunks.
"We did a very good job on LeBron, not giving him the passing lanes that he's used to," Duncan said. "It takes five guys understanding what we're doing, understanding a game plan and sticking with it."
