OAKLAND — LeBron James absorbed the blame for Sunday’s debacle at Oracle Arena.
"I got myself in a lot of trouble tonight personally. Turned the ball over way too much," James said. "I had basically half of the turnovers. We had some in the fourth quarter, but we had our third group in. I had half of the turnovers when I came out, and it resulted in them getting some easy baskets.
"So I've got to be better. I've got to be better with the ball. You know, trying to play make for myself and play-make for my teammates at the same time, I've just got to be more solid."
The first two things on the box score James looks at are team turnovers and his individual turnovers. It wasn’t good for the second consecutive game, 18 turnovers leading to 26 Warriors points in Game 2.
"It's just not good basketball," he said.
James is right. He needs to be better than the 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting, nine assists, eight rebounds and seven turnovers he had in Golden State’s 110-77 victory over Cleveland in Game 2 on Sunday. Golden State’s versatile team defense — players who can guard multiple positions — on James has been superb.
By shouldering the blame, James is trying to shield his teammates from scrutiny. But this is a team effort in ineffectiveness against the Warriors. Kyrie Irving, who had been preparing for a return to the Finals after his season-ending injury in last season’s Finals, had 10 points on 5-of-14 shooting and three turnovers.
Kevin Love played just more than half the game, leaving with dizziness in the third after getting hit in the head in the second quarter. But he was just 2-of-7 with five points and three rebounds. J.R. Smith is struggling in the Finals for the second consecutive season, scoring just eight points through two games.
WATCH; WARRIORS SHOW OFF DEPTH AGAIN
Richard Jefferson was Cleveland’s best player on Sunday, and that’s not good for the Cavaliers.
If James is flustered or upset, he isn’t showing it, at least not in his postgame news conference.
"I'm not disappointed in our guys or frustrated. We've just got to do a better job," he said. "We've got to be better at all facets of the game both offensively and defensively, both physically and mentally. They just beat us at every — we didn't win anything.
"No points of the game did we beat them in anything. Even when we had an early lead, they beat us to 50-50 balls, they got extra possessions, they got extra tip-ins. They beat us pretty good."
So now what? The Cavs said following Game 1 they would be better in Game 2. But they were worse. Cleveland has no answers against Golden State.
Any lineup Cleveland tries doesn’t work. The starting lineup is getting beat. The lineup of James, Matthew Dellavedova, Iman Shumpert, Jefferson and Channing Frye that was so effective in the Eastern Conference playoffs has been on the court just four minutes.
"We've got to get back to the film, and we all have to figure out ways we can help the team be successful," James said. "It's hard for me to kind of pinpoint what's not working and what could work right now. Obviously, not much is working, especially offensively."
Cracking Golden State’s defensive code is harder than solving the Poincare conjecture. The Warriors are taking away Cleveland’s strengths and preventing it from playing the style of offense it wants.
James said he would go back to his room and watch and re-watch the game.
"I'm one of the guys who kind of always wants to shoulder the blame and take the blame when we don't play as well as we should," he said. "It's just who I am, and I've got to be better."
But even if Cleveland is better in Game 3, is that enough against Golden State? The Cavs need to be perfect or close to it, and right now, the Cavs are far from it.
Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt.
GALLERY: BEST OF THE NBA FINALS
