Everything you said about tonights game was spot on. No silver lining from tonight.
But the statement you make in the quotes doesn't compute.
Have any of the past 10 games featured the best player on the planet?
No, but it is because of him that we have roster spots filled not turning out anything on the stat sheet (Jones, Miller, etc). We could have gone after someone like Ed Davis before the Lakers picked him up. NOT traded Wiggins. Someone to chase around the other team's best athlete better than Mike Miller can do. These guys don't hit their open shots, or play consistent defense. And there's Kevin Love, an All-Star, a much coveted free agent, who has made the Cavs look silly with his lack of defense (a known entity). Kyrie was already here. Having two mostly one-way players on the starting squad puts you at a real disadvantage.
I think where the "LeBron Blame Game" shows up is not on the court, but in the way he holds the team hostage: influencing personnel moves, and the like. We know that "Chill Mode" isn't a norm, though it's an annoyance. But more than that is the other stuff having LeBron on your team entails. Miami wouldn't let him do that at all. I think that, his current playing health, and the chance of making a "good story", among other personal reasons, influenced his decision to return. There are times where, despite his on-court brilliance, he needs to get veto-ed. He won't get that here, because Dan Gilbert has now been converted to a "yes man".
This is my response to all those who are like "who were the Cavs before LeBron", "he brought your team to the Finals", etc. Basically the newbie-ass LeBronies who appeared after 2003 or so. I know who the Cavs were. If Michael Jordan's Bulls didn't exist, they would have been an NBA Finals team in the '90s. They had turned into a crap show in the years leading up to LeBron, so I guess the answer is "The Knicks". I'm OK with the Knicks if it means one player doesn't determine your whole destiny to this degree. The Bulls have found life after Jordan. Other teams that never really "were" are putting out better teams today than the Cavs do, with less ballyhooed players. Not to long ago, Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks went to a 2-seed in the East with a first-time NBA coach. And we know what kind of players were on that team; two of them are now current Cavs.
The LeBron Factor is similar to the "Kobe Factor" with the current Lakers. Only, at least you could say, Kobe kept the lights on when others (Shaq, etc) were gone, and the front office made smarter decisions bringing complementary players to get them titles. I doubt he gets nearly the kind of criticism Kobe does, because LeBron will never have that comically self-indulgent shooting habit that Kobe does.
