CLEVELAND: Fifteen thoughts for 15 rebounds from Kevin Love in Friday’s 119-99 win over the Brooklyn Nets…
1. The Cavs dropped an absolute beating on the Nets. Soap bars wrapped in towels, Pyle pinned to his cot/Full Metal Jacket kind of pounding. They led by 46 in the third and could’ve named whatever final score they wanted.
2. There. That about covers it.
3. THE WARRIORS ARE COMING! THE WARRIORS ARE COMING!
4. Most of the players polled this week, either formally or informally, offered little more than a shrug when discussing this Christmas game and the Warriors. We’ve certainly come a long way from last year.
5. It was the loss on last year’s Christmas game, remember, that began the final demise of David Blatt. Players basically blamed him for the loss and began to revolt against him the very next night in Portland. But a championship changes everything, particularly perspective.
6. “Everyone gets so crazy with the penmanship and the coverage of a Christmas Day game, and then the next day you’ve got to play again and it’s over,” LeBron James said. “I get excited for the game, but I don’t really care too much about storylines on Christmas. It’s not a big thing for me.”
7. Added Kyrie Irving: “We’re playing in the regular season and I know there definitely will be high emotions in both locker rooms. That’s a given. If you’re not getting up for this game – all the great players that will be on the floor at one time – you shouldn’t be in there. It’s always fun to go against them because you know you’re going to get a real high-level game and you’re going to see some high-level plays. You just have to be ready to play.”
8. James made it clear the Cavs are in no position to go toe-to-toe with the Warriors for seven games right now, primarily because of J.R. Smith, who is expected to miss at least three months following surgery on his right thumb. You can read more about that here.
9. “Are we ready to set ourselves up for a seven-game series between us and the Warriors? Hell no. Our starting two-guard is out (three) months,” James said. “And we have no sense of entitlement thinking we can even get to a seven-game series. We’re not ready for that. We’ll be as well-prepared as you can be for a regular season game. Teams like Golden State, San Antonio, Cleveland, it’s too hard. You can’t really game plan in one day. You get one day to game plan for those guys or one day to game plan for the Spurs? It’s just too hard. You need a week to game plan for that and that’s what you get when you’re able to play in a series vs. teams like that. But we’ll be as prepared as we can be for a regular season game on Sunday.”
10. I’ll have plenty more on the Cavs and Warriors later Saturday. But in case you missed it, here’s the link to the piece I did on DeAndre Liggins’ domestic violence past. This was difficult to write for a variety of reasons.
11. I didn’t want to paint him as a victim, certainly, but I also didn’t want to prosecute him. I tried to present the facts of the case and leave it up to the reader to decide. A number of folks said they were conflicted after reading it, which I think is only natural. Some thought I was trying to paint him as this redemptive hero, which was not the intent. Everyone is going to have strong feelings on the topic, understandably so.
12. Funny moment postgame Friday. As Tyronn Lue was walking in to do his postgame, one member of the media relations staff was laughing and said, essentially, that this could be entertaining because Lue was in rare form. Lue indeed has been in a very, very good mood in recent days because his mother is in town for the holidays.
13. As Lue was answering a question about how the Cavs compare to the Warriors, he dropped this doozy: “Right now, I do feel like we’re playing well. We’re together as a team right now. We’re playing good basketball. I think we’re, what, 22-6, won our last nine out of 10, and well, nine and one forfeit, I guess you want to call it.”
14. Yes, Lue jokingly referred to the game the Cavs lost at Memphis – when he didn’t even bother to travel any members of the Big Three – as a forfeit. He was clearly joking and it was clearly hysterical for a team sitting atop their conference as defending champions. Of course, the good people of Memphis may not find it so funny.
15. Sunday should be fun. The Cavs are 5-0 on Christmas Day at home, which is tied with the Heat for the best home record without a loss. They can claim the best, unbeaten record on Christmas Day with a win against the Warriors. Talk to you Sunday, and have a very Merry Christmas.