The 33-year-old has never lost a first-round series or the first game of an opening series in his career across 13 seasons.
And he will hope to maintain that excellent record when the Cavs face the Pacers in Game 1 – with James having not even lost a first round clash since playing for Miami Heat in 2012, winning 21 games straight since then, which is an NBA record.
But there is an element of unknown with the Cavs’ post-season hopes given the lack of experience within their roster, many therefore expecting forward James to have to take on much of the responsibility for the No 4 seed.
But ‘King James’ – who enjoyed a stunning regular season in which he averaged 27.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and 9.1 assists plus career-high numbers of triple-doubles and double-doubles – has warned he is raring to go.
The four-time MVP declared: “My responsibility has been the same for quite a while now, go out and try to dominate.
“Mentally and physically, I’m where I should be right now. I’m not comparing it to last year.
“I’m not comparing it to previous years. I’m not going to compare it to next year.
“Right now, how I feel, I feel where I need to be and I’m healthy going into the post-season as healthy as you can be going into the post-season.
“So we’ll see what happens. I’m ready to go and I look forward to seeing what this post-season has to offer.”
These two teams both met in the first round of the playoffs last year, with the Cavs sweeping to a 4-0 series win – albeit with both having undergone major changes since then.
LeBron has acknowledged that he is wary of the threat posed by the Pacers, who ended the season 48-34, this year having improved massively – particularly on offense.
“I think they’re more well balanced,” warned LeBron during practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts.
“It starts with the head of the snake obviously, [Victor] Oladipo, [but] Darren Collison’s leading the league in three-point percentage.
“Myles Turner coming back, he’s been playing some good ball of late. [Bojan] Bogdanovic had some really good games in the season, he’s a wildcard.
“What’s a bonus, Joseph [Young], [Lance] Stephenson and those guys that come off the bench.
“They’re very well balanced and you have to be ready for everything that they have to bring and everything they have to offer.”
