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LeBron James plans to get more aggressive in Cavs-Bulls Game 2

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 26: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers reacts in the second half against the Boston Celtics in Game Four during the first round of the 2015 NBA Playoffs on April 26, 2015 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 26: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers reacts in the second half against the Boston Celtics in Game Four during the first round of the 2015 NBA Playoffs on April 26, 2015 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

The Chicago Bulls' Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 1 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers was both notably impressive and not especially shocking. With the injured Kevin Love and suspended J.R. Smith out of the starting lineup, the Cavs were forced to play without two key players in a system that has increasingly relied on offensive balance and outside shooters to space the floor. Tom Thibodeau rightfully noted that no team with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving can be said to be shorthanded, but Cleveland didn't look entirely prepared to make adjustments to their attack.

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That was especially true of LeBron, who put up an impressive line of 19 points, 15 rebounds, and nine assists on a night when the Cavaliers needed a more proactive performance. To his credit, James realized as much. From Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group:

"I might have to change my mindset a little bit obviously with Kev [Love] being out," he said. "It's something that we all haven't been accustomed to this year with him being out an extensive period, or one of the Big 3 being out for a long period of time since I had my injury. So, it might be a different mindset for myself and Kyrie [Irving]." [...]

"I've never kind of went into a game saying, 'OK. I'm going to be ultra aggressive to start a game,' James said. "I've always had that feel-out thing, but last night it was little bit too much feel-out. I think I only had two shots at one point. I just was not aggressive offensively as I was defensively." [...]

"We waited until we got down until we started to make a push," he said. "You got to have a little bit better sense of urgency in Game 2."

The stakes of Game 2 are fairly clear — the Cavaliers will be in big trouble if they find themselves in a 2-0 hole with as many as three games left to play at the United Center. This is not the time to keep bullets in the chamber, and the prospect of full-on domination from the NBA's most talented player is a pretty powerful piece of ammunition. As our Kelly Dwyer noted on Tuesday, it would be safe to assume that LeBron is capable of this sort of dominant performance, because he's done it many times before.

It's worth remembering, though, that the Cavs were put together so that LeBron would not have to resort to these kinds of heroics. While the Cavaliers still have plenty of capable players, the requirements of Game 2 resemble what was needed from James in his final two seasons with the Miami Heat, when Dwyane Wade was only intermittently star-like and Chris Bosh impacted games primarily as a spot-up shooter. LeBron said from the moment he signed that these Cavaliers would take time to jell, but the best incarnation of this squad that we've yet seen — the one that looked like the clear favorite to represent the East in the NBA Finals over the second half of the season — impressed largely because he didn't have to be an overwhelmingly dominant player. Cleveland has been good enough to win when James plays much like he did in Game 1.

This point isn't meant to criticize the Cavaliers, because any playoff team missing two starters would have to recalibrate its approach. Rather, the argument here is that the postseason regularly finds teams in desperation mode even when they're explicitly constructed to avoid such scenarios. Except for when one team is clearly better than its opponent — a rarity outside of the first round — a single win or loss often shifts the dynamics of a series and forces star players to play much more aggressively. It was inevitable that LeBron would have to approach a game in this way at some point during the playoffs. The real test of the Cavs' readiness to contend will be how often he has to play this role, not whether he does it at all.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!