Back in November, LeBron James had one of his worst shooting nights of the 2015-16 NBA season when the Cavaliers debuted a black alternate sleeved jersey during a game against the Knicks. LeBron started off the game by missing seven of his first 11 shots, and he was apparently so uncomfortable with the sleeved jersey he was wearing that he tore one of the sleeves off in the second quarter of the contest:
It didn’t help much, as LeBron ended up shooting 9-for-23 during the game. And while he tried to downplay the impact the sleeved jerseys had on his shot afterwards—“The jerseys are nice,” he told ESPN.com. “We love the jerseys”—it was clear that they had a mental impact on him. It was also clear that, despite what he said after the game, he was still not a big fan of the sleeved jerseys, which is something he talked about in November 2014:
With all of that in mind, there were a lot of NBA fans who were shocked to see the Cavaliers step on to the court for Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals on Monday—an elimination game!—wearing those same black alternate sleeved jerseys. According to reports, the NBA didn't make them do it:
So why would they pick that game of all games to bring the sleeved jerseys back out? Doesn’t LeBron hate them? Wouldn’t they affect his shot? So many questions:
But as it turned out, the jerseys got the job done. The Cavaliers beat the Warriors 112-97 on Monday night, and LeBron and Kyrie Irving made history by becoming the first teammates in league history to score 40-plus points in the same NBA Finals game. They both finished with 41 points, and LeBron added 16 rebounds, seven assists, three steals, and three blocks to his stat line. So clearly, the black sleeved jerseys didn’t bother him during Game 5.
And after the game, Cleveland.com reporter Chris Haynes reported that it was actually LeBron who made the call for the Cavs to wear the black sleeved jerseys with their season on the line. LeBron didn't talk about them during his post-game interviews, but J.R. Smith told Haynes that the jerseys symbolized “pride” to the team:
So will the sleeved jerseys be making another appearance during the Finals? After what happened on Monday night, we definitely wouldn’t rule it out.
