JR Smith had his best night of the season scoring 19 points, while LeBron James led the team with 25, and Kevin Love added 22 points and 15 boards. Nevermind. Despite the embarrassment, the Cavs improved to 10-3 and have the best record in the Eastern Conference.
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James has maintained all season the injuries are no reason for the team not to play well.
After Jared Cunningham threw the ball out of bounds while trying to feed James in the post with 6:11 remaining in the third quarter and the Cavs up 72-46, the Cleveland star stalked off the court and sat down on the bench.
Kyrie Irving is on his way to recovery from a fractured kneecap injury although a huge comeback in the near future is not that clear.
Cleveland then scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to push its lead back to 13. Paul Millsap had 23 points and a season-high 16 rebounds for his sixth double-double. Budenholzer appeared to step on the court and bump referee Ben Taylor, prompting the ejection.
“It’s not about what I said, it’s about what they did”. “If there was contact, it was 100percent unintentional”.
No Atlanta player had a standout game against Cleveland. As a result, the Cavaliers were assessed a technical foul.
“Tonight was one of those nights where the guys did a great job of carrying me”, James said.
LeBron would eventually apologize to his teammates for it. “I blew a gasket”.
Blatt found a few humor in the situation. “He knew we weren’t playing right, and thought we were playing hockey”.
There does seem to be a kernel of truth to Blatt’s joke. That’s essentially all you need to know. “I understand his frustration but obviously he shouldn’t do that”.
Atlanta has played the last three games without Teague, who averages 17.1 points and 6.5 assists and is out with a sprained left ankle.
A confident Cleveland Cavaliers side jumped all over the Atlanta Hawks in the first half and kept them at arm’s length in the second, using a combination of offensive ball movement and defensive industry to coast to a 109-97 victory.
After starting the season with three straight loses, the Pacers (8-5) have bounced back to become one of the most consistent and well-rounded teams in the league.
Blatt said he didn’t like first half shot selection and lammented bad passes turnovers and defensive breakdowns in the second half. We’ll see if that’s the formula the Cavs stick with for the remainder of the year.
Budenholzer had no excuses for his team’s performance.
Shumpert’s target is to be able to suit up on Christmas day when they play the Golden State Warriors in a Finals rematch. I think we answered the call on what we talked about.
“We’re missing a lot of guys right now, a lot of very, very significant guys”, Blatt said. “That’s the task in front of us”.
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It’s that understanding that has produced career numbers and a potentially elite scorer (he leads the Spurs with 21.4 points per game) to go along with the elite defender he’s always been. They would have been even closer, but the seldom-used Varejao was pressed into action with Mozgov out and scored six big points in the quarter. The Bucks are five-and-seven.
