LeBron James and Isaiah Thomas try to convince us that the Cavs' trip to Boston is 'just another game'
The NBA’s coaches, schedule-makers, team training and medical staffs, and media have gone out of their way to make this league a lot less fun in 2016-17, resting stars and non-stars alike for a litany of nationally televised snoozers. The league’s superstars are, understandably, mostly cool toward and cool with this. Even the greenest of all postseason-bound All-Stars are aware that the regular season is a slog and that the potentially two-month playoff is barely better.
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This is why you’ll have a hard time reflecting kindly on some standout, nationally televised contests from this season, and this is why we were all looking forward to Wednesday night. The Cavaliers, briefly knocked from their perch at the top of the Eastern Conference seemingly for the first time since LeBron James came back to Northern Ohio, taking on the usurpers: Isaiah Thomas’ Boston Celtics, a team that’s managed to out-shout any fears about its wily rebuilding process with a fascinating ascension to championship contention.
The teams are tied atop the conference, at 50-27. Save for the potential absence of the much-admired Tristan Thompson (injured right thumb, Wednesday’s MRI results pending) alongside similarly extolled Celtics Avery Bradley (a stomach bug) and Jae Crowder (left elbow bash), all superstar hands appear to be on deck.
Too bad the superstars confused your order for a pitcher and wings for yet another sweating pint glass full of cold water. LeBron was the first to dull your interest, on Tuesday night:
“Their crowd is going to be great, and it’s a very good team we’re going to be playing against tomorrow,” James said of the Celtics, who are 8-2 in their past 10 games. “We know that. Taking nothing from them, they’ve been playing some great ball, but I’m not one to get caught up in the regular season. I’m sorry. I’ve been to six straight Finals, man. I’m the last person to ask about a regular-season game, dude. Sorry.”
“It’s just another game,” said Thomas. “I think we’ve got to treat it like that. I mean being No. 1 in the standings, you don’t feel different. I don’t at least. I’m treating it like another game.”
Thomas went on to discuss the possibility that the Cavaliers’ stars, yet again, might decide to sit the contest out. In the end, he sounded like a guy that would prefer you watch Nuggets/Rockets instead:
“I mean, at this point, I don’t care who plays,” said Thomas. “If they don’t play, that’ll be good. If they do, we’ll be there at 8 o’clock to play them. I’m fine with either way they go.”
Huh.
Well, beyond that, at least the thing looks good on paper. The Cavaliers already took two of the first three over the C’s prior to Boston’s impressive March 1 victory over the forever-chirping and still-casting Cavaliers. Back then, the new Cleveland toy was point man Deron Williams. At this point, with Thompson both injured and contributing just two points and three rebounds in the wake of his recent showdown with LeBron, Larry Sanders is the new veteran helper, just called up from the D-League’s Canton Charge and possibly saddled with playing his first impactful NBA minutes since 2014.
By now, you know what Sanders (four minutes in 2016-17, one missed shot and two fouls) is charged with changing: Everything. We’ll see how that turns out.
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Thomas, true to contender’s form, can hardly be bothered to shed a tear for the team that still gets to field LeBron James:
“I watch a lot of their games,” said Thomas of the slumping Cavaliers. “Every team goes through it at some point in the season. They’re just happening to go through it right now. They’ve won the championship, they’ve been to the Finals for the last two years – they know what it takes to win. You can’t put that past them. It’s obvious they are going through whatever they’re going through. But that is their problem. We can’t worry too much about what they’re going through.”
Cleveland has needed its current three-game winning streak just to pull into Thomas’ station with a 10-11 record since Feb. 23. The team’s infamously poor post-All-Star break defense continues to confound – with both James and the team’s function unfairly begging Thompson to act as some holy amalgamation of Udonis Haslem, Bobby Jones and Dennis Rodman within the team’s frontcourt – and the Cavs have battled injuries throughout their championship defense.
The Celtics don’t want to hear it.
This is still the team that was supposed to pack up half of these role players midstream to exchange for a star who never showed up, prior to using all those incoming lottery picks on players with significant promise, but that looked to have little to toss LeBron’s way this early in the run. Boston started the season by winning just 13 of its first 25 games, and it has been acknowledged that the long payoff for this fun run could be a deep jaunt into the Eastern postseason, and only that, prior to the drafting of a new franchise stud who might also play Thomas’ position.
One bit of intrigue at a time, we’d suggest, especially with an actual game on Wednesday. Without their positions in danger of being picked at by 19-year-old interlopers from the NCAAs, Cavaliers Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love gave a grinning assessment of the fun that should commence in Boston on Wednesday:
“Can’t wait,” [Irving] said. “It’s exciting. It’s exciting basketball — 1-2, 2-1, whatever you want to call it. Whoever’s competing for first place, second place, so, it’s exciting. It’s just great competitive basketball, and I’m glad we get to see them in the regular season. I know they’re excited, as well. A lot of great players on the floor at one time, like I always say. But it’s great competition. See where we stand.”
“I think we need [a big game against Big Boston],” Kevin Love said. “It will be good for us, and it’s definitely up there [with other big games], especially timing-wise. It will be a good test for us, and I think it will get us even more prepared, even more locked in, win or lose.”
With the current 2-1 record over Boston, a road conquest for the Cavaliers on Wednesday will give Cleveland the regular season tiebreaker and, effectively, a two-game lead over Boston in the Eastern standings with just four games to play after Wednesday. This contest could give Cleveland a Game 7 advantage over the Celtics this May and, well, while we’ve all seen what LeBron and the Cavs can do against Boston during a Game 7 in Boston …
… one can imagine how things will turn out in Cleveland. Especially without Sasha Pavlovic playing 35 minutes this time around.
This will be a game. Just because LeBron has seen the top of the NBA’s mountain a few times, it should hardly take away from what should be an enjoyable experience. As scheduled.
(Right?)
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!