Miami Heat forward LeBron James told ESPN on Wednesday that it wouldn't be a surprise if he guarded the much smaller Nate Robinson in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals after Robinson's stellar 27 point performance for Chicago Bulls in Game 1. "It wouldn't be a surprise if I matched up with him," James said Tuesday. "But I'll take the challenge on [defense]."
James, who measures at 6-foot-8, 250-pounds holds a distinct size advantage over the 5-9, 180-pound point guard. However, the athletically gifted reigning-MVP has experience guarding speedy point guards, as he did against Derrick Rose during the 2011 Eastern Conference finals following Chicago's Game 1 victory in that series.
"Nate is a scorer, man," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. "We got to do a better job of contesting his shots, but Nate's going to score the basketball because he's going to shoot. We can't worry about that. I think there's other things that we have to worry about more than Nate. We've seen it -- when Nate gets on a roll, there's not many guys in the league that can get hotter than Nate that make shots."
Aside from Robinson, Chicago will also need to counter the emergence of Jimmy Butler. The former Marquette star caught Miami's attention after scoring 21 points and grabbing 14 rebounds in Game 1 on Monday. He also played stellar defense, holding James to an uncharacteristically low scoring effort in the first half.
"I think it's very impressive for him to be able to do it," James said of Butler's 48 minutes played on Monday. "I think Jimmy's a good solid defender."
Butler also caught the attention of Wade, who also shined during his time at Marquette. "He's in shape," said Wade. "The guy is in shape, and to be able to play that many minutes in a row, obviously a lot of guys can't do that. And still to be aggressive on the offensive end and defensively to be able to guard different guys, he's special in that sense. That's why Marquette chose him."
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