LeBron James sat on the second half of a back-to-back

LeBron James didn’t play basketball on Wednesday night , even though he was fully capable of playing it better than anyone else in the world on that
particular evening.
The malady in this case was “rest,” as provided by James’ Cleveland Cavaliers in explanation and as accepted by Adam Silver’s NBA by rote. As a result, James sat out a game in Indianapolis against the Pacers – the third such game (out of
five) in Indy that he’s sat out due to rest since re- joining the Cavs back in the summer of 2014.
The Pacers won, not quite handily but with aplomb, by a 103-93 score . Helpers and former All-Stars Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving contributed a combined 51 points for the Cavs, but it wasn’t enough to top a sensible Pacers attack, and the home team emerged the victor. Still, the home team’s move back to .500 was probably not enough for those
that made a point to circle this game on the calendar, those that helped vault the Pacers (a typical attendance thus far: 16,400) up over 17,000 in passing the turnstiles.
Watching the game, you couldn’t have helped wonder how many of those 17K-strong had made a point to pounce on this ticket all the way back in August, mindful of the enhanced price due to the
champs’ and (mostly) James’ presence. A price that no doubt vaulted ahead of the toll it would take to have seen Elfrid Payton’s hair on Monday night in a Pacer win over Orlando, or Devin Booker’s racing-stripe sideburns (and game) in a contest against Phoenix on Friday evening.