LeBron James’ Leadership Should Be Questioned After Cleveland Cavaliers' Game 4 Loss

“Follow my lead and do your (expletive) job.”

These were the words LeBron James told his Cleveland Cavaliers teammates before taking the court for Game 3 of the NBA Finals. After getting embarrassed for two straight contests against the Golden State Warriors, James was incensed by a perceived lack of effort and emotion from his fellow Cavs.  He reportedly wasn’t okay with how a few of his teammates didn’t understand the importance of what was happening around them.

As a result, Cleveland stormed the Warriors and convincingly took Game 3. It seemed as though momentum was tipping a bit, as if the Cavs might still have life in them after being humiliated and called out for a lack of heart the game before. All Cleveland needed to do was win Game 4 on home court and suddenly it would be a best-of-three series. One would think the Cavs merely had to follow their leader once more to accomplish that.

Well, they certainly did follow in the footsteps of James. And this is why they head back to Oakland down 3-1 in the series.

After laying into his teammates for what he felt was poor effort, James played one of his ugliest games at the absolute worst time. Cleveland’s leader crumbled down the stretch and, as a result, the team’s season is just about finished.

At the surface, James’ stat-line isn’t too bad. 25 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists is usually a decent night from him. However, it was what he did when the Cavs needed him the most which ultimately did the team in.

For one, James got sloppy with the ball, contributing all but four of Cleveland’s 11 turnovers. He seemed tentative on some drives, fumbling the ball away when the Cavs were building some momentum. He would still try and take the ball to the hoop, but didn’t nearly seem as sure of himself as he should’ve been.

Worse than the turnovers, though, was what James put forth in the fourth quarter.

Down two and desperately needing a win to save their season, the Cavs simply had to play one of the best quarters of their lives. Quicken Loans Arena was rocking, with fans doing whatever they could to help the hometown team.

One 20-point quarter later, said supporters were collectively going through the thousand-yard stare, in shock over what they had just seen.

They watched as James went back to settling for jumpers. They witnessed him standing around under the basket while the Warriors out-hustled him for second-chance scoring opportunities. They saw him sandwich a turnover with two bricked 25-footers.

The man who aggressively called his teammates out, who privately accused them of not putting forth the ideal effort for the stage they were on, just kind of gave up.

It certainly seemed like the perfect stage for James to take the game over, a vintage display of driving to the rim with a fury, destroying the opponent’s will with every basket. Couple that with an arena full of fans dying to see what many call Cleveland’s best shot at a title make this Finals a series again, and how could you not have expected him to put forth a highlight reel performance?

But no. James settled, hoisting ill-advised jumpers and fumbling the ball.

To their credit, his teammates took his advice and followed his lead. Ball movement was eliminated, everyone stopped and watched isolation possessions. The team looked disinterested in defense, standing around on rebound attempts just as James did. As a result, Golden State took hold of the game and never looked back.

How can you not lay blame for this loss at the foot of Cleveland’s leader? James had no trouble addressing teammates he felt weren’t giving enough determination, but it’s okay if he folds like he did last night? Kyrie Irving stopping the ball and taking bad shots is frowned upon, but James clanking another step-back three-point attempt when his team needed more from him is fine?

At the end of the day, you have to scrutinize James’ leadership skills after a loss like this. He waxes poetic about how his teammates look to him for guidance in situations like these, then essentially spoon-feeds Golden State a crucial Finals victory with a miserable performance in the clutch.