We knew there would be some bumps and bruises along the way, but going 1-3 in their first four games is not what anyone envisioned when the Cleveland Cavaliers acquired LeBron James and Kevin Love in the offseason.
Unfortunately for them, that’s exactly where they are after losing to the Utah Jazz 102-100 on Wednesday thanks to a game-winning buzzer-beater from Gordon Hayward. The offense for the Cavaliers is very much in the infant stages, and David Blatt has yet to take control over what it should look like. The biggest mistake the coach appears to be making is keeping the ball away from LeBron James a bit too often, which is never a good thing.
James and Kyrie Irving were asked about how they felt in regards to the team having only six assists through the entire game against the Jazz. Their respective responses were quite different, from Jason Lloyd of Akron Beacon Journal:
Here was Irving’s response when asked if only six assists is a concern: “No, no, no. We have great players on this team. Sometimes things happen in the game and you have to take it – me and Bron saw that at the end of the game. We gave guys ample opportunities, guys just weren’t hitting. Especially when we were going swing-swing action.”
And here’s James: “There’s no way you can win a basketball game like that, just having six assists. We just can’t win like that. We have to figure out a way to help each other and not make it so tough.”
Again, it’s very early in the season, but there’s already plenty of friction, differences of opinion and philosophy among the players. Given who James is, what he has done throughout his career and the success he has tasted, Irving should probably start listening to him a little more. Just maybe. The two had some words with each other in the locker room and here’s how that went down, from Brian Windhorst of ESPN:
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving exchanged words in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ locker room following the team’s 19-point loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night, and it led to Irving leaving quickly without speaking to the media, multiple sources told ESPN.com.
The discussion was seen as healthy, sources said, with the veteran James voicing concerns about the direction of the Cavs’ offense. James scored just 11 points against the Blazers and did not score in the second half, and he was often not a part of the offense. Cleveland is off to a 1-3 start following a last-second loss to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.
“There’s a lot of bad habits, a lot of bad habits been built up the past couple years,” James said to the media moments after the exchange. “When you play that style of basketball, it takes a lot to get it up out of you.”
James gave Irving plenty of compliments after the game about his ability to score and keeping the team in the game for a chance to win. That said, he is clearly talking about the young point guard when he says “there’s a lot of bad habits built up the last couple of years”. He’s certainly not talking about himself or Love since the two just came on board.
Irving has always had the tendency to look for his own before seeing the entire scheme of things, but that needs to change quickly with such better teammates alongside him now. If he doesn’t adjust properly, the Cavaliers will likely continue to struggle in the early going.
OTHER NEWS AND ITEMS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE:
- Tracy McGrady isn’t liking what he’s seeing out of the Cleveland Cavaliers and has a suggestion for LeBron James:
Bron, go get Rondo out of Boston!
— Tracy McGrady (@Real_T_Mac) November 6, 2014
Steve Kerr says sleep is the first thing that went after becoming the head coach of the Warriors, from Sam Amick of USA Today: “I hate to go into detail, but I’m 49, so every night I wake up at 3:30 (a.m.) to take a pee, like most 49-year-olds,” Kerr told USA TODAY Sports this week. “And when I was a broadcaster, I went right back to sleep. Now it’s ‘What plays should we run? What about this? What about that?’ “It’s getting better. I’m much more comfortable with the (coaching) routine, and so I have actually been sleeping better. I’ve definitely been sleeping better the past few days, since we’ve been winning. But we haven’t had a loss yet. As soon as that happens, I’m sure I’ll feel it.”
- That’s a stark contrast from how Mark Jackson did things as the coach of the Warriors, via WarriorsWorld.
Andrew Bogut explained the difference between Kerr and Mark Jackson: “”In training camp, we did basic fundamentals,” Bogut said. “We did dribbling drills. We did pivot drills. We did jump-stop drills. I’m talking like grade-school stuff. And some guys thought it was stupid, but I think it’s just that attention to detail. He knew last season that we were horrible at turning the ball over, so he was all about, ‘If you’re double-teamed, do a jump-stop, get to your pivots.’ We actually do that stuff… “Last season, we didn’t practice a lot,” Bogut said. “Every coach is different, and coach Jackson liked us to be fresh for games and have fresh legs. We came in, did what we needed, scouted and got out of there. (Now) we’re doing a little more with coach (Kerr). Like I said, the fundamental stuff … That worked for us last season. This season, they’re different. They want to make sure we stay on the fundamentals and that kind of stuff.”
Kobe Bryant believes Jeremy Lin and Carlos Boozer must take on a bigger role for the Lakers on offense, from Baxter Holmes of ESPN LA: “Well, I think use a lot of guys, [Carlos] Boozer and Jeremy Lin, to create opportunities,” Bryant said, “which means running [the offense] through them a lot and moving me off the ball and getting picks off the ball, as opposed to me initiating the offense and then controlling everything from there. “I think it has to be Jeremy and Boozer and those guys making plays, and we’re setting picks off the ball. It keeps them involved.”
DeMar DeRozan appreciates how Chris Bosh treated him when he was a rookie, from Jessica Camerato of Basketball Insiders: ““He was tough on me from the standpoint, I think he knew how good I could be,” DeRozan told Basketball Insiders. “I was the starting guard with him, (Hedo) Turkoglu, (Andrea) Bargnani, Jose Calderon. I was the only rookie out there. A lot of mistakes I made, he would just be hard on me about it so I could be better. He was a good dude. He’s a good friend of mine.”… “One game we were playing Miami in Miami and I wouldn’t shoot the ball,” DeRozan recalled. “He yelled at me, saying, ‘Shoot the ball! Shoot the ball!’ I just took from that have confidence in yourself. No matter if you miss it, continue to keep playing, continue to keep shooting.”
- Social media is on top of its game this season, so you’ll see plenty of terrific coverage of fun things from anyone and everyone. Here are some: Ricky Rubio doesn’t want to forget anything, Pek; DeMarcus Cousins feels the love from Omri Casspi; this is straight up laugh-out-loud material from Draymond Green.
- Bill Simmons went on a giant rant against Mike Golic. Details can be found here.
- Kendrick Perkins had some kind words for some of the fellow big men in the league, from Royce Young of ESPN:
Perk says he sees Marc Gasol as the second-best big man so far this season. First? DeMarcus Cousins.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) November 6, 2014
James Park is a blogger and editor at Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.