LeBron James‘ 43 points, 14 assists and 8 rebounds stunned the Raptors and their fans Thursday night, but prior to Game 2, Kevin Love says his superstar teammate told him precisely what he was about to unleash on Toronto.
James dismissed the Raptors’ defense with an array of absurd fadeaway jumpers in the fourth quarter, giving the Cleveland Cavaliers a commanding 2-0 series lead.
Cavaliers' Kevin Love said LeBron James told him Thursday morning he would attack mismatches w/ fadeaway jumpers over each shoulder, then did it in Game 2: "He actually called his shots this morning. That's just one of the examples I could use of how locked in he was." pic.twitter.com/PBJXIkOhKr
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) May 4, 2018
“When he went over his right shoulder and then went over his left shoulder, he said when he got the mismatch, he was gonna do that,” Love said.
“So he actually called his shots this morning … That shows just how locked in he was at shootaround.”
Love added 31 points and 11 rebounds in the Cavs’ 128-110 victory.
Per the AP:
“This morning you could just sense it,” Love said. “He knew what was at stake, he knew us getting another win here was going to be huge for us. He came out and he played that way from the jump. You could just sense that he was going to have a special night.”
James, meanwhile, gave credit to Love, who shot 11 for 21 and missed matching his career playoff high by one point.
“It was great to see that performance out of him,” James said. “He’s our All-Star power forward. That’s a huge game for him.”
