LeBron James is always the centre of attention, the singular element stories and clips are based around. It has been that way since he first stepped into the NBA out of high school and has never changed.

James hoisted the Cleveland Cavaliers on his back the past two years, winning a title in thrilling fashion last June, but this group of Cavs is far more than just James.

The “supporting cast” is a group most teams would love to surround their superstar with.

Kyrie Irving is one of the three best one-on-one scorers in the world and his clutch shot clinched last year’s title. He also handles the ball like few others. Kevin Love is one of the elite shooting and rebounding big men in the NBA. Canadian Tristan Thompson has earned his big contract with his tireless work on the boards and on defence. Veterans J.R. Smith, Deron Williams, Richard Jefferson, Channing Frye and Iman Shumpert provide shooting and savvy.

Raptors guard Cory Joseph says James takes that stellar supporting cast to another level because of his basketball IQ.

“Obviously you have to try to stop him from doing what he does, but it’s the plays that he makes for others which makes them a great team, which makes all of his guys get confidence, they start going, they start feeling good,” Joseph told Postmedia after practice on Sunday.

“They have a lot of shooters (the team shot 40% on three-pointers in the first round of the playoffs, Williams shot 78% Frye 47%, Smith 44%, Kove 41%, Kyle Korver 38.5%.). He’s great at passing out of double-teams, he’s great at making reads and he’s great at getting to the shooters on time and in their shooting pockets, so your rotations have to be very, very key, everybody has to be on the same page to a tee and you really got to try to limit those guys around him as much as you can,” Joseph said.

“Kyrie’s a great player as well, he’s going to do what he does, but you’ve got to try to limit him as well.”

And don’t forget Thompson, who averaged nearly seven offensive rebounds against Indiana and just over three a game against the Raptors last year.

Joseph grew up with Thompson and played with him for a long time. Few know the Brampton native better than Joseph.

“He’s a guy with a great motor and he’s always been that way. That’s a big reason why they score a lot of points like that, because he gets them so many second chances, second opportunities. We definitely have to limit that … We have to take him out of the equation.”

Easier said than done. Which goes for LeBron and the rest of the star-studded Cleveland lineup.

OPENING JITTERS

One thing is certain: If the Raptors are to make Game 1 interesting, Kyle Lowry will need to play far better than he usually does in Toronto openers.

He was only a bit sup-par in the very first one against Brooklyn, shooting 7-for-18 with five turnovers, but the next year he was a dreadful 2-for-10 and fouled out against Washington, setting the tone for what would be a four-game sweep.

Lowry was just 3-for-13 with five fouls and six turnovers in last year’s playoff kickoff against Indiana, including 1-for-7 on three-point attempts and five fouls, then amazingly posted exactly those same numbers in the first game against Miami.

He went 4-for-14 in each of the first two games against Cleveland, but eventually found his way, shooting above 50% for the rest of that series.

Overall against the Cavs, Lowry averaged 20.2 points, 4.2 assists, 4.5 rebounds, with a 474/.348/.714 shooting line.

“I’m just optimistic because it’s a different year,” Lowry said after practice on Sunday.

“It’s a whole different team, whole different everything. This is 2017, that was 2016. This is a whole different year to me. That’s why I’m optimistic.

AROUND THE RIM

LeBron’s teams are 76-19 in the past seven post-seasons against East teams ... Only the 2000-01 Lakers have had a worse defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) than the Cavs among teams that won the title ... DeMar DeRozan shot 50% from the field against Cleveland in the East final last year, his best in any post-season series. He averaged 23 points and shot 91% from the line. DeRozan shot .439 against the Bucks, which was his next-best mark in a series. He had 11 steals against the Bucks in the final three games after not registering any in the first three ... James has played the 25th most regular-season minutes (third active) and is 17th (and counting) in playoff minutes.

rwolstat@postmedia.com

twitter.com/WolstatSun