LeBron James Injury: Thunder Must Put Pressure on LBJ Following 'Cramp Game'

The Miami Heat are going to need LeBron James to be at 100 percent in order to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night in Game 5.

They've needed LeBron to be at 100 percent throughout the course of the playoffs, and now that they're dealing with their top competition in an elimination game, his role has never been more significant. 

And now that the Thunder only need to win one game in order to bring this series back home, they're going to be throwing everything they have at Miami. As a result, LeBron needs to be the LeBron of Game 6 against the Boston Celtics in order for the Heat to get a win and seize the NBA title at home.

That might mean that he has to pretend these leg cramps—however significant or however trivial they truly are—don't exist.

When the Miami star suffered a leg injury during the fourth quarter of Tuesday's 104-98 win, the entire Heat bench, coaching staff and fanbase was left horrified for an instant.

They thought about what happened to the front-running Bulls when Derrick Rose went down. They saw their NBA title, so close within grasp, start to float away.

But then LeBron popped back into the game a few minutes later and, despite some pain, hit the three-pointer that pretty much solidified Miami's victory and all was well again.

Except what if it isn't? Since Tuesday, LeBron's leg has been talked about more than a celebrity baby bump, but all indications are that he'll be fine for Thursday's game.

According to the Miami Herald's Daniel Chang, LeBron is feeling good. LeBron told him on Wednesday:

"

I feel a lot better than I did last night. That’s clear.I’m still a little sore because of the muscles just kind of being at an intense level, very tight. I’m still sore. I was able to get some treatment [Tuesday] night. I was able to get some treatment this morning.

"

No matter how much pain LeBron was in on Tuesday, he's lucky this is only muscle spasms, which, according to the Herald, are short-lived in nature and come with a very quick recovery time. Excellent news for the Heat, bad news for the Thunder.

Maybe this is a Paul Pierce 2008 situation (and I say that as a Celtics fan). Maybe LeBron is coming out on Thursday in his proverbial wheelchair with every intention of delivering salvation to Miami. Maybe he's allowing the media to play up the injury angle in the hopes that the Thunder will be expecting a less-than-100 percent LeBron, and then he'll stun them.

In any case, the Thunder have to be ready to put more pressure on LeBron than ever before. They should be doing that, anyway, but now—if he's anything less than 100 percent—is when they need to capitalize. If they lay on the pressure and LeBron can't handle it, this finals takes on a whole different complexion.

If LeBron really is still feeling the pain, there's no better time for the Russell Westbrook-Kevin Durant duo to seize the day and make the Heat pay. The Heat are good, but without the league MVP in the equation, they're just another beatable team.