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Regardless of whether the Cavs have Love on Wednesday and whether they opt for some of the lineup changes that Lue admitted he has discussed internally with his coaching staff in the days since Game 2, James stressed the importance of bringing a better effort than his team did in Oakland, where Cleveland dropped the first two games by a combined 48 points.

"Obviously, it's a do-or-die game for us," James said. "We can't afford to go down 3-0 to any team, especially a team that's 73-9 in the regular season and playing the type of basketball they're playing. So it's a do-or-die game for us, and we understand that.

"So we're going to come in and give everything that we've got and leave it on the floor."

Cleveland is 7-0 on its home floor this postseason, while the Warriors are 3-4 on the road. Perhaps that's why James maintained a shred of optimism.

"I don't think it's an adverse moment, but I would say that we all can sit here and say there is no way we can go down 3-0, you know," James said. "And I'm not a big history guy, even though I love the history of the sport, but I don't like to put myself in it. But coming back home and understanding this is our home floor and we've played some really good basketball, we can't afford to go down 3-0, especially against this team.

"So it will be more adversity if we got to that point, which I don't believe we will."