They’ve had games where they were seemingly sleepwalking until something clicked and they rallied late.
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LeBron James scored 27 points, Kevin Love added 22 points and 15 rebounds and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Milwaukee Bucks 115-100. As such, the moment represented a few poor leadership on his part, although Cleveland Coach David Blatt laughed it off afterwards.
“I think it’s just a mindset so our opponents know we’re ready to play”, Thompson said.
I have no idea what James was thinking there; the only thing that makes remote sense is that he thought Atlanta wouldn’t be able to inbound the ball as quickly as they did. “This is not how you, as a coach, design it. But I did like seeing the toughness that we had to reveal in the fourth quarter”.
James apologized to his teammates after the game, saying he “blew a gasket”. He was given a technical for arguing a call, bumped referee Ben Taylor after stepping on the floor and was tossed.
Budenholzer looked bewildered by the ejection and didn’t have many answers afterward, either. [Taylor] threw me out, and that’s his prerogative.
“Coach said we had no intensity on the defensive end and no patience on the offensive end”, Hawks guard Dennis Schroder said. “It’s just up to us to translate them and do the production”.
The Cavaliers handily beat the Hawks on Saturday night, but things weren’t all rosy for the Eastern Conference’s top team.
The Cavaliers were leading by 13 in the second half of their game against Detroit on Tuesday but they still bowed down to the Pistons, 104-99.
Blatt said he didn’t like first half shot selection and lamented bad passes, turnovers and defensive breakdowns in the second half.
If the Cavs can continue weathering the early adversity brought on by numerous injuries, James can probably rest a little easier-especially once Cleveland is at full strength in 2015-16.
With Mo Williams even sidelined due to his sore lower right leg, Cleveland was nevertheless rolling from the start.
None of that mattered. If a player in the game receives his sixth personal foul and all substitutes have already been disqualified, said player shall remain in the game and shall be charged with a personal and team foul. “We’ve got a great leader in LeBron”.
The Knicks didn’t get their eighth win last season until January 23, when they were 8-36.
Power forward Paul Milsap had 14 points on 3-for-13 shooting, point guard Jeff Teague got his 13 off the bench on 3-for-12 and center Al Horford had 10 on 4-for-12. Memphis’ Zach Randolph was in uniform, but did not play in his second straight game due to right knee soreness.
Greg Monroe and Khris Middleton each added eight points in the third quarter and helped the Bucks cut the Cavs’ lead to five with under a minute to go in the quarter. O.J. Mayo made his season debut, but only scored three points and his first basket didn’t come until the final quarter.
To play with a sense of urgency is what Lebron is looking for from his team right now. He was not arrested nor questioned by police. “I just don’t want to be a distraction to anybody else and I’ve just got to move forward.”…
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“As a player, especially when you feel like you’re not done, that you can still play, it’s tough”, he said. While there has never been a target date for Irving’s return that has been spoken aloud, there are signs that Irving’s return may come before mid-December.
