No phone. No Twitter. No Instagram.
LeBron James has gone into lockdown mode again during the NBA playoffs.
For the fourth consecutive postseason, Cleveland's superstar is trying to shield himself from the outside world, saying he doesn't need any distractions while he and the Cavaliers chase a title.
"I don't have no phones, no social media, I don't have anything," James said following Tuesday's morning shoot-around as the Cavs prepared to host the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference playoffs. "I don't care about nonsense. There's too much nonsense out there. Not during this time. This is when I lock in right now, and I don't need nothing creeping into my mind that don't need to be there."
James began his personal media blackout -- he's dubbed it "Zero Dark Thirty" -- in the 2012 postseason, one year after he and the Miami Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.
The four-time MVP said he was unaware of a swipe Heat President Pat Riley seemed to take at him Monday. Asked during a news conference about the difference in preparing to rebuild his roster this summer, Riley said there will be "no more smiling faces with hidden agendas," an apparent reference to James, who announced last July that he was going back to Ohio.
"That's not really my concern right now," James said. "My concern is Game 2, but I have no notion of what transpired yesterday."
Once his availability with the media ended, James pulled aside a reporter to learn more about Riley's comments.
James has 20.5 million followers on Twitter, but he doesn't plan to engage with them until the playoffs end. He said the only people he needs to communicate with are his family and teammates.
Cavs forward Kevin Love said he won't shut down quite like James.
"I'm not going to turn off my phone," Love said. "But social media? No. I won't be throwing up any of my chocolate milk ads for a couple months."
Tebow time
The Philadelphia Eagles signed quarterback Tim Tebow over the weekend.
"In a matter of minutes, the news spread east to west, north to south, far and wide," wrote Reggie Hayes of The News-Sentinel of Fort Wayne, Ind. "In other words, kind of like Tim Tebow passes."
Omitted
The Atlanta Hawks' planned a t-shirt giveaway for Game 1 of their playoff series had to be scrapped when it was discovered that the name of one of their starting players was missing from the apparel.
Philips Arena workers placed the red t-shirts over each seat Friday, but they were all gone Saturday. They were not replaced for Sunday's series opener against the Brooklyn Nets.
The t-shirts were emblazoned with the name of each Hawks player but one, Jeff Teague, who led the team in assists and finished second among the Hawks in points, steals and free-throw attempts this season.
Sports quiz
Where did Jeff Teague attend college?
Sports answer
Wake Forest
TIM COOPER
Sports on 04/22/2015