the lebron timeline

Cavs-Celtics, Game 1 - Mo dunks, Cleveland goes ballistic, LeBron turns it on and they win 101-93.

Cavs-Celtics, Game 2 - Cleveland loses, LeBron is unnaturally very calm about this. Mike Brown is not.

Cavs-Celtics, Game 3 - In Boston, LeBron destroys the Celtics, showing no effects of an elbow injury in putting up 38/8/7/2

Cavs-Celtics, Game 4 - See Game 2 comment

Cavs-Celtics, Game 5 - LeBron's last game in Cleveland. He's lethargic, inaccurate, disinterested. "I spoil a lot of people with my play." He gets booed. Writers around the country wonder what's wrong with LeBron. Is the mysterious elbow injury? LeBron seems not to care.

Cavs-Celtics, Game 6 - Somehow a LeBron triple double seems uninspired. He again doesn't seem to care. He rips the Cleveland jersey off his back heading into the locker room.

Fast forward to the offseason. We never hear anything about the elbow injury. LeBron strings along Cleveland and every other team with cap space, though honestly, the Clippers should have known better. Cleveland management and his teammates (the same ones he was dancing with and high-fiving before every regular season game) find out that LeBron is not coming back for the first time during his televised decision on ESPN. Times LeBron mentions his supposed good friends during the ESPN program: 0

So what to draw from all this? I think it's becoming increasingly clear that LeBron quit on his team some time after Game 3. And his decision was made some time around that time too.