The Cleveland Cavaliers have been pretty mediocre this season. Through 69 games, they’ve outscored their opponents by a total of just 15 points. They remain in third place in the Eastern Conference after a win in Chicago on Saturday, but that game against the depleted Bulls went down to the wire, and the Cavs are just a game and a half ahead of the sixth-place Philadelphia 76ers.
LeBron James is still having an incredible season, on offense at least. He has averaged 27.1 points on an effective field goal percentage of 59 percent, along with career-high marks in rebounds (8.6) and assists (9.0) per game. And he’s done that while playing all 69 of the Cavs’ games this season.
The pursuit of the first 82-game season of James’ career is still in full swing and James is feeling up to the task, as The Athletic‘s Jason Lloyd writes in his post-game notes from Chicago:
12. There was a time, not long ago, when James needed to take two weeks off to address knee and back injuries. That was around the time that his back hurt so badly, he could barely get out of bed in the mornings.
13. “I’d get stuck,” he told The Athletic. And there he’d sit on the edge of the bed, hunched over and unsure of what to do next. And yet now, James’ back, like the rest of him, is doing the unthinkable: It’s improving with age.
14. It isn’t supposed to work this way. He could’ve easily gone the path of Larry Bird, whose crippling back problems left him flat on the floor during much of his last season before finally forcing him out of the league at age 35. But through his training methods, James acknowledges now he believes he has unlocked the key to staving off career-threatening concerns.
15. He has long been hesitant to share his training methods because he doesn’t want anyone to steal them, but he can’t remember the last time he needed an anti-inflammatory injection in his back and he continues to play the best basketball of his career.