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The Cavaliers have a rough plan mapped out for James' minutes each game. He plays the entire first quarter, and then is supposed to sit until about the seven-minute mark (or perhaps a little later) in the second quarter. Play the whole third, and then see how things are going in the fourth.
Only, as was the case in the second and fourth quarters Friday night, James often pops out of his seat when he wants to go back in, without a nod from Blatt.
Blatt said James knows the plan, but he "steals a minute or two" sometimes when he bounds off the bench early and strolls to the scorer's table. If the ball stops and the horn blows, James takes the floor.
"I'm not going to tell him to go sit down," Blatt said.
"When he's engaged and he feels good, then we go with it as long as it's not exaggerated or debilitative."
As it turned out against the Nets, Cleveland needed every bit of James in the fourth quarter. He scored eight points, including the clinching free throw with 1.3 seconds left.
James came off the bench with 7:28 remaining, and within his first three minutes hit a difficult turnaround jumper over Johnson as the shot clock expired and later drained a three.
All on a night when Kevin Love was 1-of-10 shooting and Irving was 6-of-18.
"I don't really think about the minutes I'm playing when I'm out on the floor," James said. "I feel it after the game, obviously, but I don't think about it when I'm out there.
"I'm all about team and that's all that matters, so, if some games they need to be out there 40 minutes I can do it, or if it's 20 minutes I'll do it as well."
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