3. Injuries
While injuries should not be used as an excuse for losing, this is one of those cases where injuries are nearly impossible to overcome and cannot even be saved by a superstar playing in superhuman form. The Cavaliers were missing All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving and Love, along with starting center Anderson Varejao.
To put things into better perspective, Smith ranked second in scoring for the Cavaliers among active Finals players in the playoffs with 12.8 points per game. It is hard to imagine Michael Jordan winning an NBA Finals without Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman or Stephen Curry winning one without Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, so disparaging James for carrying the load does not seem appropriate in this situation.
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