The NBA playoffs and the chase for his third title over the last five seasons took a backseat to the world view of LeBron James this weekend.

Instead, and for a short while at least, the four-time league MVP and two-time NBA champion took the time to pray for and rally around the many now confused, bewildered and angry citizens in his Cleveland home state over recent developments there involving law enforcement.

Cleveland reported on Saturday that Cuyahoga County Judge John O'Donnell had acquitted white Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo in the 2012 shooting deaths of unarmed blacks Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. During testimony, it was revealed the 31-year-old Brelo led a contingent of 13 officers who fired a staggering 137 shots at a vehicle driven by Russell following a high-speed chase.

After the victim's car finally came to a stop and was quickly surrounded by police, Brelo climbed aboard the hood of the vehicle and fired at least 15 more rounds at close range -- some of the shots are believed to be the fatal blasts.

In the wake of the verdict and the face of at least some of the evidence, swarms of people took to the streets in Cleveland in protest on Saturday, ending in dozens of arrests and police manning the streets in riot gear.

Before Saturday's practice in anticipation of Sunday's critical Game 3 against the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals, James tried to make sense of it all.

"Violence is not the answer, and it's all about trying to find a solution for good or for bad," James told ESPN. "For me, in any case, anything that goes on in our world or in our America, the only people that we should be worried about [are] the families that's lost loved ones. You can't get them back. You can never get them back. We should worry about the families and how they're doing and things of that nature."

James spoke of how he's come to realize what a winning sports team can do for a city's sense of pride and being, valuable intangibles that might otherwise be missing. He stressed he now views sports to be one of the "biggest healers in helping a city out."

But Cleveland isn't just any city, not to LeBron James anyway. In formally announcing that he was leaving the Miami Heat and returning to Cleveland as a free agent last summer, James wrote in a Sports Illustrated essay, "I feel my calling here goes above basketball. I have a responsibility to lead, in more ways than one, and I take that very seriously. My presence can make a difference in Miami, but I think it can mean more where I'm from."

In the coming days, James indicated he planned to take a closer look at the Brelo decision and in time may publicly speak his mind on the issue. But for now, he stressed this time of season needs to be all about Cleveland.

With the Brelo trial and verdict coming not long after the U.S. Justice Department found the Cleveland Police Department "systematically engages in excessive use of force against civilians."

James reflected, "For the city of Cleveland, let's use our excitement or whatever passion that we have for our sport tomorrow for the game tomorrow night, bring [the passion] to the game tomorrow night, and as our team, we'll try to do our best to give it back to them."