LeBron James jogged through his final minutes in the Cleveland Cavaliers' 101-82 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in what appeared out of character and led to speculation that he may not be right physically.

James had a minor back issue during training camp, but this is a leadership choice rather than a physical ailment.

James "plans to operate in a passive-aggressive mission to yank some teammates toward his way of thinking. Let some of them fail at their way so they will be open to new ideas, is what it looks and sounds like," write Windhorst.

"Everyone wants to win, I would hope," James said. "Would you rather play selfish basketball and lose, or play unselfish basketball and sacrifice and win? So you pick it."

Dion Waiters and Kyrie Irving dribbled and dribbled and shot and shot in the second half, shooting 19 combined times compared to James' four.

Irving shot 3-for-17 in the loss and left before speaking to the media.

"My mission is not a one-game thing," James explained. "We have to do multiple things in order to win. We got to share the ball. We got to play defense. We got to sacrifice in order to ultimately win. And obviously when you're going through the process, it's not the best part of the process, but I'm looking at the end of the tunnel."