Over the last two weeks, Doc Rivers the coach has done a fantastic job of covering for Doc Rivers the GM. The Los Angeles Clippers have won nine straight games, the last eight without superstar forward Blake Griffin, who – in case you hadn’t noticed over the past couple of seasons – has overtaken Chris Paul as the team’s best player. When Griffin got hurt, the Clippers appeared to be in trouble. They had just lost three straight games to San Antonio,
If you are like many Americans – middle-class, middle-aged males not unlike myself – and watched your first NBA games this season on Christmas, then you probably think the Chicago Bulls are just fine. If you have watched at any other time this season, then you know otherwise. On Christmas, the Bulls played perhaps their best game of the season. They went into Loud City without injured emotional leader Joakim Noah and never trailed against the Thunder, leaving with a convincing 105-96
In his essay in Sports Illustrated last summer, LeBron James famously wrote, “I’m not promising a championship. I know how hard that is to deliver. We’re not ready right now. No way.” His prediction turned out to be correct – the Cleveland Cavaliers did not win the championship. Objectively, 2014-15 was still the best season in the history of the franchise. They made it to the NBA Finals for just the second time, won a Finals game for the first time,
You don’t need to look at the MRI on Kyrie Irving’s knee to know the Cleveland Cavaliers are in trouble. Just look at the boxscore. In Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Irving was better than anyone could have imagined. Bothered by a nagging sore left knee since Cleveland’s first-round series win over Boston, Irving clearly benefited from the eight-day layoff following the conference finals and rediscovered his All-Star form. Irving collected 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists in nearly 44 minutes,
Maybe the Cleveland Cavaliers should have kept Andrew Wiggins. Yeah, I know, it’s easy to say now, with Kevin Love sitting out fourth quarters and contemplating whether to re-up alongside LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, while Wiggins drops 20 every night for the Minnesota Timberwolves. But I’m not just saying it now. I said it back in the summer, too, before the big deal was even done. [Read more…]
Over the weekend, LeBron James called his slumping, underachieving Cleveland Cavaliers “a fragile team.” James is partially right. As a group, the Cavaliers aren’t dealing very well with the lofty expectations put upon them by pundits like me. Right now, they look like a typical front-running team that lacks mental toughness and gives in at the first sign of trouble. That was evident Saturday, when the Cavaliers sprinted to a 26-8 lead in the first eight minutes – and were overwhelmed thereafter
Nice how things change so drastically and so quickly in the NBA. In the season preview that I wrote about the Cleveland Cavaliers one year ago, the five things to watch included Andrew Bynum, Anthony Bennett and Mike Brown’s defensive schemes. Obviously, things have changed dramatically as the Cavs head into the 2014-15 season. With a mere 952 words in Sports Illustrated back in July after Chris Sheridan broke the story two days earlier, LeBron James single-handedly changed the direction – and
Friday brought about the first media days for a few NBA teams. The Miami Heat, New York Knicks, San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers were among the teams meeting the media before the start of training camp. The Heat are the defending Eastern Conference champions but are retooling. The Knicks are beginning the Phil Jackson era. The Spurs are trying to defend their NBA title. But no team got as much attention Friday as the Cavaliers. [Read more…]