Going into last night's game folks were very optimistic that the Tyronn Lue "era" would get off to a good start. The point spread opened in Cleveland's favor at 9.5 and went up to 10.5 by tip-off. New, welcome, coaching change, Chicago playing the second in a back-to-back. At the Pawn Shop.That's a huge line. Chicago's a pretty good team. I would have taken Cleveland to win but would have been scared off by that line.
96-83, Chicago. Chi, oh my.
Cleveland shot 9-22, 41%, in free throws. 4-24, 17% from the three point line. 37% overall.
They were booed off their own court.
There was quit in Quicken Loans Arena.
What's interesting, perhaps concerning, is what both Lue and LeBron James said was wrong with the Cavs.
"I'm just really worried about our spirit, and getting our spirit right and getting our spirit together and the other stuff will take care of itself because we've got a lot of great players," said Lue, who was installed as Cleveland's coach Friday when David Blatt was fired.
And James?
"We just a team that, we're a bit fragile at times and we're still learning each other," he said. "I continue to harp on it, we're a team that's very inexperienced in growth and togetherness. We haven't experienced much together, so sometimes a little hardship happens and guys, we don't quite know how to figure it out together just yet. So hopefully we can kind of right the ship and be better for one another before we talk about the game."
The company line, which players, the new coach, and general manager David Griffin are steadfastly holding, is that the life of this team was sucked out by the coach fired Friday.
It's so easy to pile on a coach after he's gone, but if you'll notice, it's hard to find anyone coming to Blatt's defense on this matter.
And yet, one has to wonder, even with the apparent personality conflict between Blatt and the players – James, first and foremost – that was never going to go away, how the Cavs' "spirit" can be broken or how a team with the second-highest payroll in history be "fragile?"
We're talking about a team with James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love. The defending East champs and current conference frontrunners. Broken spirits? Fragile? Really?
96-83, Chicago. Chi, oh my.
Cleveland shot 9-22, 41%, in free throws. 4-24, 17% from the three point line. 37% overall.
They were booed off their own court.
What's interesting, perhaps concerning, is what both Lue and LeBron James said was wrong with the Cavs.
"I'm just really worried about our spirit, and getting our spirit right and getting our spirit together and the other stuff will take care of itself because we've got a lot of great players," said Lue, who was installed as Cleveland's coach Friday when David Blatt was fired.
And James?
"We just a team that, we're a bit fragile at times and we're still learning each other," he said. "I continue to harp on it, we're a team that's very inexperienced in growth and togetherness. We haven't experienced much together, so sometimes a little hardship happens and guys, we don't quite know how to figure it out together just yet. So hopefully we can kind of right the ship and be better for one another before we talk about the game."
The company line, which players, the new coach, and general manager David Griffin are steadfastly holding, is that the life of this team was sucked out by the coach fired Friday.
It's so easy to pile on a coach after he's gone, but if you'll notice, it's hard to find anyone coming to Blatt's defense on this matter.
And yet, one has to wonder, even with the apparent personality conflict between Blatt and the players – James, first and foremost – that was never going to go away, how the Cavs' "spirit" can be broken or how a team with the second-highest payroll in history be "fragile?"
We're talking about a team with James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love. The defending East champs and current conference frontrunners. Broken spirits? Fragile? Really?
That's from Joe Vardon of cleveland.com. I share his surprise and if I correctly read incredulity into his "Really?" I share his incredulity. If not, I share with you my incredulity. That is unacceptable if true--And that is the best it can be, unacceptable--or complete bullshit. I lean heavily on bullshit. I rely on bullshit.
I lean heavily toward bullshit because of the other things that were said. Like,
"we're still learning each other." That is complete bullshit. This team has been intact since the trading deadline last February, the "Big Three" have been together now for over a season and one-half. The entire team has been to the playoffs together, came within two wins of being NBA champs together, re-signed over the summer together. Last year, at this time, LeBron James was using the same line, and then it made sense. Now, it's nonsense.
Like,
"We haven't experienced much together." Not true. Bullshit.
"be better for one another before we talk about the game." ? "Be better for one another BEFORE we TALK ABOUT the game." ?? I don't know what he means there, that seems to be a pregnant comment but I've never been pregnant.
"The company line...the life of this team was sucked out by the coach fired Friday." That's Vardon's line, maybe he has heard that company line and I have not but nobody heard that company line in David Griffin's press conference. Not at all. If that had been the company line how could the company line have survived this putrid loss to Chicago? What was sucked out of the team by Blatt should have been blown back in by virtual artificial respiration by Tyronn "Red Auerbach" Lue.
This is what I think, you want to know what I think? I'm going to tell you what I think: Remember that Kevin Love comment after the blow-out loss to the "Warriors?" "We have to look in the mirror and it all starts with our leader over there."? (Kevin was referring to LeBron, not David Blatt.) I think there is disgruntlement among the other players toward the spirit of LeBron James. What David Griffin saw in the locker room in Phoenix on December 28 was a lack of joy, so associated with the "Warriors," in winning, in winning even a close game against an overmatched opponent. What Griffin and everyone saw on the court in Portland two days before in a blowout loss to a dreadful opponent was quit. The "Cavaliers" quit. Griffin mentioned what he had seen on that road trip in his press conference axing David Blatt. In axing Blatt, Griffin attributed that spirit to Blatt. It has become the "company line." Now that evil spirit persists, like a hangover, under Tyronn Rue. The "Cavaliers" quit when Blatt was the coach, they have quit when Rue was the coach. They didn't quit on either coach.
The team has quit on LeBron James.
The team has quit on LeBron James.
