BOSTON — LeBron James has looked tired at times in the Eastern Conference finals, but you can bet he will play all 48 minutes of Game 7 against the Celtics at TD Garden if that’s what winning requires.
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue was asked Sunday night before Game 7 if James would play the entire contest, and even though Lue doesn’t expect that to happen, the flow of the game could dictate otherwise.
“Not all 48, no,” Lue said. “We’ll see if we can get him out at the end of quarters so he can get that last little minute and then the three-minute timeout (between quarters), and kind of see how it goes. It all depends on how the flow of the game is going, but not all 48.”
Then, Lue said with a smile, “if I have to, I will.”
Unless the Cavs’ role players step up in a way they haven’t in the three previous games in Boston this series, James might have to play the entire game.
Kevin Love, the Cavs’ second-best player, is out with a concussion, leaving George Hill, Jeff Green, J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson as the other starters and the guys who need to help James produce offense.
James’ highest minutes total for a single game this postseason is 47, which came in an overtime win against the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of the second round. He played 46 minutes in Friday night as Cleveland won Game 6 to force a decisive Game 7 in Boston.
James went 43 minutes in Game 7 of the first round against the Indiana Pacers, and the Cavs won 105-101. But unlike that game, Sunday night’s showdown is on the road and comes after he’s totaled 695 minutes, or an average of 40.8, in the 2018 playoffs.
It goes without saying that the Cavs will need James to play above 40 minutes and score 35-plus points if they’re going to reach the NBA Finals for a fourth consecutive season.
