Kyrie Irving's season-ending broken knee cap injury is of course a major blow to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Beating the Golden State Warriors four times without Irving is going to be tough, and most believe it's not possible. The expectation at this point is that LeBron James will strap the Cavaliers onto his back and attempt to singlehandedly carry them to an NBA title. If putting the considerable weight of winning the title on one man's back is the route Cleveland decides to take, this series will quickly end.

The Cavaliers don't need James to play out of character. They don't need him to go out and try to score 40 points a game to be competitive in this series. They only need James to be himself and play the brand of selfless basketball that has been the signature of his career. Leading a team doesn't always mean you need to score more than the other team’s stars. For a player like James, that's the worst approach to take. He's a leader and has thrived when making the players around him better. He creates opportunities for his teammates to be successful - being in the Finals is the biggest opportunity yet. It's now on them to step up and take advantage of the opportunity in front of them; contrary to popular belief, they can win the title without Irving.

The Cavaliers aren't the star-studded Miami Heat team that won two NBA titles, but let's not act like they're the Philadelphia 76ers of 2011. They have players who can contribute and others who have shown they can play at an extremely high level. A week ago the basketball world was buzzing about Tristen Thompson and how he deserves a max deal this summer; Irving's injury doesn't change that. There was excitement around J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert and how well they're playing after escaping the losing culture in New York; Irving's injury doesn't change that either. The injury also doesn't change the perceived toughness of Matthew Dellavedova or inside presence and the solid contributions of Timofey Mozgov and it certainly doesn't change the greatness of James.

The injury only change the circumstances and size of the challenge, but winning a championship, as we all know, isn't supposed to be easy. It's not without the peaks and valleys most athletic endeavors. It's hard, damn near impossible, to climb the mountain without some type of adversity. The great teams find a way to play through it. The greatest players have found a way to overcome it.

As hard as it is to picture, it's not a hard concept to grasp. Every player needs to do their job a little bit better for the collective good of the team. At the professional level, that's not unattainable especially for a team that's reached the NBA Finals. This is where James is needed to do more. It's not shots and points that are valuable at this moment; experience is needed most.

James knows all there is to know about playing on this stage. With the exception of his teammate James Jones, whose Finals experience is much different, James has more championship experience than both rosters combined. He knows about winning and losing big games and the moments that make the biggest impact in these series. He's lost series to teams with less talent and won a few games he probably should have lost. Imparting what's he's learned on his teammates will go much further than another game where he takes 38 shots, especially since the Warriors have no such experience (every player on their team is making their first NBA Finals appearance).

Resisting the urge to empty his clip may be tough. James is 2-3 in his five Finals appearances and he knows that these opportunities aren't promised again in the future. He wants to capitalize on attempt number six, but without the best from his supporting cast he will again be on the losing side. His experience should be enough for him to understand the importance of staying the course and playing his game. For James, the challenge, more so than the Warriors, may be resisting the urge of attempting to win the title alone.