Sunday Shootaround

BOSTON — In the frenzied late-game rush of a playoff-like atmosphere, few things are more valuable than a clear head and a keen understanding of the court. When you combine those attributes with superior talent, you provide yourself with an opportunity to win the game. That doesn’t mean the shot will fall or the play will work. But chances are you will at least get a good look, if not the best possible look in that situation.

That has always been LeBron James’ calling card in late-game scenarios. While other superstars are predisposed to put the game on their shoulders and their shoulders alone, James has long preferred to seek out the best possible chance at a bucket, whether it be his or someone else’s. LeBron used to take criticism for this, but those days are all but over. In all the many ways he has outlasted his critics, his end-of-game plan is one of the most enduring.

It would have been far easier for LeBron to try to do the impossible because the calculus is much simpler. Succeed and you’re a hero. Fail and at least you died valiantly. Yet, for as much iron will as it requires to put the game in your hands, it requires even more to trust your read, your teammates, and then be able to live with the consequences knowing the responsibility is still yours alone.

We saw yet another example of this on Wednesday with the Celtics clinging to a two-point lead and mere seconds left on the clock. A few minutes after it was over and before he had even hit the showers, LeBron took the assembled media through his mental rolodex with striking precision.

The Cavs had scored on their previous possession thanks to a brilliant twisting layup by Kyrie Irving. That phenomenal finish was made possible by a Boston switch that put Al Horford in the unenviable position of guarding the much quicker Irving. It was that very scenario that LeBron and the Cavs wanted again. Only this time the Celtics didn’t switch, leaving Avery Bradley on Irving.

For several fraught moments the two battled for an opening. Irving went to work with his dribble, but Bradley matched him stride for stride and move for move. It was thrilling one-on-one basketball at its highest level, contested between one of the great ballhandlers and one of the most fluid on-ball defenders. This was the game distilled to its very essence.

With the tension rising in the Garden, Bradley held his ground, forcing Irving into a tough jump shot. That was a win for Bradley, but the look was perfectly acceptable and indeed would have been the normal course of events on almost every other team in the league. After all, if anyone has earned the right to play hero, it was Irving, who drained the iconic shot of last year’s Finals. What makes the Cavs so dangerous is they don’t have to settle.

As Tristan Thompson kept the possession alive with an offensive rebound and kicked it out to LeBron, it was time to recalibrate: see the floor, make the right correct read, seconds melting off the clock. James saw Jae Crowder run at him. Then Isaiah Thomas made a dash in his direction.

That meant somebody was open and that someone happened to be Deron Williams, who also happened to be making his Cavs debut after signing earlier in the week. LeBron whipped a pass that only he can make and D-Will lined up an open three.

That Williams was on the far side of the court, alone in the opposite corner, indicated that the C’s had executed their double team strategy. That it came against LeBron meant that it didn’t matter.

It also didn’t matter that Williams had been his teammate for all of 23 minutes. It didn’t even matter to LeBron that he missed. Williams was open so he got the ball.

“Gave him the opportunity and he just missed it,” James said dispassionately after running through the entire scenario. “So, we got the shot we wanted.”

That James made the right play is second nature, of course. But to his teammates, many of them veterans from other teams, it means everything. They have seen their careers either extended or completely blossom playing with LeBron. That is not an accident.

This season alone, Derrick Williams has found a home after bouncing around the league. Kyle Korver arrived from Atlanta and has made over 50 percent of his 3-point attempts since joining the Cavs. They are merely the latest in a long line of imports brought to the roster by GM David Griffin, who has mastered the art of finding veteran help from the leftover scraps of what remains of his assets.

Last year, Richard Jefferson found a third wind to his basketball life. Channing Frye became a postseason star. The year before brought J.R. Smith, who went from mercurial head case to Finals hero, and Iman Shumpert, who has been a vital role player. Even those who leave Cleveland benefit from their time next to James as evidenced by Timofey Mozgov and Matthew Dellavedova landing massive free agent deals. Playing with LeBron has its perks.

When you are making a case for the best player in the league there are several critical items to parse. How do they rate statistically against their peers, how important are they to the success of their team, how meaningful is it when they’re not on the court? But there’s another way to judge: How do they make their teammates better?

What superstars do is make everyone’s life easier. They demand the kind of defensive attention that leads to double teams and that allows teammates to thrive in their roles and not have to do things that stretch their abilities.

“He is numero uno when it comes to making players around him better,” Korver said. “He obviously puts you in situations to succeed, but he just exudes confidence. How he talks to you: He’s intense, he’s fired up. He just breeds confidence in the guys. The situations he puts you in because of his skill level and then his personality and his leadership, it just elevates guys around him.”

Korver was a focal point of Atlanta’s offense in a way that he’s not in Cleveland. Lacking elite one-on-one talent, the Hawks smartly used what they had and in Korver they had one of the game’s great shooters. They put him in motion and ran him off screens, bringing defenders with him and opening up the game for his teammates.

It worked beautifully for a time, but it also took an enormous physical toll. There was some concern that at after 13 years in the league, Korver was finally slowing down. But he has been rejuvenated playing with LeBron. Where he once ran baseline-to-baseline and back again, now Korver merely has to be present. It’s not just the attention that James commands, it’s the willingness and the ability to make passes that no one else can make.

“The defender doesn’t have to be far away from you for him to feel like you’re open,” Korver said. “He’s OK with firing one at you if he feels like you’re open, not if everyone else will think that you’re open.”

There are other less tangible elements at play in the equation. There’s leadership, of course, which is not always so easy to diagnose. For as much attention as LeBron draws for his occasionally impetuous remarks, what impressed Derrick Williams was seeing how much effort LeBron puts into his craft.

“He just brings it every single day,” Williams said. “Sometimes when you have star caliber players like that it can vary, but he’s really big on bringing it every single day. His work ethic spreads throughout this whole locker room.”

That sets a high standard and woe to the player who doesn’t meet that requirement. For the right player at the right time in their career, playing with LeBron is like reaching nirvana.

“If you compete and play basketball the right way he’ll be one of the great teammates you’ll ever have,” Jefferson said. “That’s what he prides himself on, is high level competition and guys playing the right way. He works extremely hard and the guys we bring in here follow in that same mold so that’s not hard for guys to pick up on.”

Back to that Deron Williams shot. Considering they had just lost a tough game against their closest conference challenger, one might have expected to find a dour locker room scene. Instead the Cavs were loose and still buzzing off the competitive high. In that they took their cue once again from the leader.

“Good game, executed well by both teams,” James said. “They made a couple more shots than we did down the stretch. Nothing bad about tonight.”

They know that there will be many more nights like this in the months ahead with much higher stakes. They know they have work to do to fully integrate all of the new players that arrived for the stretch run. A daunting March schedule awaits. But they also know that they have LeBron and there will be many more opportunities to rise to the moment at hand.

“Everyone thought that shot went down,” Jefferson said. “We all thought it was good. Great look. We’d have him shoot that shot a million times in a row. So, next time it drops.”

That’s what it’s like to play with LeBron James.