The Oklahoma City Thunder had several opportunities to win Game Four and send the NBA Finals back to the Chesapeake Energy Arena, but failed to capitalize. In tonight's elimination game, they'll need to exploit every advantage - however small. And LeBron James' aching leg may create an opportunity to do exactly that.
Case in point: shortly after James hurt his leg in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's game, Russell Westbrook was bringing the ball up for OKC, with an obviously-hobbed LBJ covering. Rather than drive to the basket and force James to move laterally on his injured leg, Westbrook settled for a pull-up jumper. Sure, James couldn't defend Westbrook's pull-up... I'm not sure there's a player alive that can... but a more aggressive drive to the hole might have forced James to foul or opened up a higher-percentage shot.
Shortly thereafter, James brought the ball up against the Thunder defense, covered by Thabo Sefolosha. Sefolosha is one of the NBA's better perimeter defenders. But on the play in question, he made the curious decision to play three or four steps off James, giving him plenty of room to sink a crucial three-pointer.
Under ordinary circumstances, that's the right play; defenses would much rather give James a jump shot than allow him to blow past for a layup. But after the injury, it was pretty clear that LeBron wasn't blowing past anyone.
It's not clear if James will be 100 percent healthy for tonight's game. Scott Brooks and the Thunder need to make it a priority to find out. Run him off screens. Force him to move laterally on the defensive end. And when he's on offense, don't automatically fall into the "please don't blow past me" stance until it is clear that he still has that trademark explosiveness.
If he doesn't, Miami may be in trouble... even with a 3-1 series lead.
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