Basketball historians will rightfully tell you that digging his team out of a 3-1 N.B.A. Finals ditch, winning a Game 7 on Golden State’s floor and lifting the so-called Cleveland Curse to deliver title glory to a long-suffering city adds up to peak LeBron James.
Two short years later, in the 2018 N.B.A. playoffs, James realistically has to be better now than he was then just to get back to the finals.
That’s how deep the hole suddenly is for James and his Cleveland Cavaliers entering Saturday night’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the relentless Boston Celtics.