LeBron adjusting his free throw mechanics

LeBron James said he might need to protect himself a little more from hard fouls after Wednesday's Cleveland Cavaliers win over the Toronto Raptors. 

It turns out he's also in the process of checking himself on his foul shooting. 

"I'm trying something out," James told Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com in regards to subtle changes made recently in his free-throw shooting mechanics. Following his standard, routine dribbles at the charity stripe, James is now pausing with the ball around his chest for a few seconds before going into his shooting stroke - something he didn't do as recently as three games ago.

The idea is to slow things down at the line.

It's remarkable that a player of James' caliber and age would toy with the basics at this stage, but as Haynes writes, he's always been one to improve upon coming up short. In last Sunday's loss to the Houston Rockets, James missed eight foul shots, the impetus for the adjustment.

In the last two games, he's 11-of-16 at the line. He explains it this way:

I've got to have a growth mindset, man. That's what it's about, me still trying to improve even at 30 and 12 years in the league. I think I've got room to improve so if it's changing my free throws, if it's doing something different in the post, or if it's how I pass the ball or defend, I'm trying to get as much out of this game as I can while I'm in here.

James' 71.5 percent free throw shooting this season is the second-lowest of his career.