Television ratings were down, but the people who did tune in -- Spurs fans aside -- wanted to see James score 40 points, grab a dozen rebounds, dish out 10 assists, sing the national anthem, fly around the AT&T Center and entertain them during commercial breaks whenever possible. He scored 14 and, thankfully, didn't sing. Cleveland lost, just as it did Game 1 of the last series. And although James did shoot 4-for-16 on Thursday, he's still not getting destroyed in print, on the radio waves or on TV like he was after passing the ball while down two points in the opener of the Eastern Conference finals. Credit the media for exercising some restraint this time. But if he struggles again, all bets are off. You all know that. Vultures. Luckily for James, the odds are in his favor that he'll be better Sunday in Game 2. He's great at taking criticism, has proven to rebound nicely from poor performances in the past and has twice watched the film of what San Antonio did against him. On Saturday, he was loose, discussing everything from his girlfriend Savannah's pregnancy to what he thinks will happen in Sunday night's Sopranos series finale. James' opinion: The witness protection program is in Tony's future. LeBron also wouldn't want to see Mr. Soprano get whacked. Can't imagine David Chase would take that easy a route, but that's another column in itself. The point is that James, who had 35 points against the Spurs in a Nov. 3 win, isn't overly concerned that his Game 1 struggles will become a recurring trend. "I've done a great job of preparing myself from one game to another," he said Saturday, "and I definitely feel like it's going to be a bounce-back game for me tomorrow night." He's not going to be 0-for-7 in the first half again, and odds are very good that he'll put his head down and try and get to the basket in the opening minutes, focusing on being more aggressive than he was in the opener. San Antonio is still going to funnel him inside to force him to deal with Tim Duncan, but James' major adjustment will be to try and speed up the game, hoping to catch the Spurs defense before it can get set. Thought that's easier said than done, at least it's an adjustment. "I have to do a better job of trying to attack the double-team early and see if I can swing it to the other side to a teammate that can make a play," James said. "We got into too many late shot clocks in Game 1, which is not good for us. "We don't work well when we get the shot clock down at three and two, and it makes us make bad plays. We just have to do a better job of trying to attack the double-team and being a little bit more aggressive getting to the lane."
