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By Brian Windhorst, The Plain Dealer

The effort wasn’t too little. It was too late.

There was more sweat and slightly more drama from the Cavaliers in Game 6 against the Celtics on Thursday night. LeBron James fought his opponent and himself, heading off into free agency mildly acquitting his effortless Game 5 that likely will forever be the memorable moment from another disappointing finish to a Cavs season.

But there were no heroics from James, whether it was because of his elbow, the Celtics or something else to be discovered in the future. So down the Cavs went, another No. 1 overall seed wasted, 94-85, to the Celtics.

Boston, the No. 4 seed, will advance to see the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference finals.

The Cavs will go into an off-season full of fear and loathing. At the final buzzer, James’ three-year, $42 million contract officially ended.

Attempting to shake off a wave of national criticism about his spiritless play two nights before, James ran a backdoor cut and threw down a two-handed dunk on the Cavs’ first offensive possession to attempt to set a tone. He played with that sort of vigor for the rest of the game, legs pumping, eyes darting and the nose for the ball.

He had 27 points, a career playoff high of 19 rebounds and 10 assists, putting together a stat line that resembled what the Cavs needed the whole way in the series. But it was a meaningless triple double

Because there was this, too: 8-of-21 shooting and nine outrageous turnovers, reminders that James, the Most Valuable Player, only made a couple of cameo appearances in the series. Now the Cavs have been written out of the NBA playoff script at least two rounds before they were expected when the season and playoffs began.

As he stood at the foul line in the final minutes, the Boston crowd taunted him by chanting “New York Knicks.”

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Story Courtesy Of  The Plain Dealer