Cleveland Cavaliers Blog – Page 21 – NBA Blog

Not a typical season for LeBron, Cavs

This was an unusual regular season for LeBron James and the Cavs, undergoing several rotation and roster changes, not winning as much as usual, finishing the regular season strong but still undergoing adjustments as the playoffs continue. The team’s first round series against the Pacers was tough, but the squad swept the Raptors in Round 2. For more on the Cavs, here’s the News Herald:

The Cavs battled through the regular season to finish 50-32. It was their worst record on a team with LeBron James on it since they finished 45-37 in 2007-08.

The struggles of the regular season followed them into the start of the playoffs. They needed a seventh game to eliminate the Indiana Pacers, needed overtime to beat Toronto in the first game of the semifinals and needed a buzzer beater by James to win Game 3.

The 35-point victory in Game 4 was more than just a stepping stone to the Eastern Conference finals against the winner of the Boston-Philadelphia series. It was a statement of how good the Cavaliers could be when George Hill, J.R Smith and Kevin Love get involved early in the offensive attack. Players are inspired to play better defense when they know they’ll be contributing on the offensive end…

The Cavaliers don’t return to practice until May 10. They’ll be working without knowing their next opponent if Philadelphia wins Game 5 in Boston on May 9.

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LeBron James speaks on upcoming Game 7

Game 7 of any NBA playoff series is an epic event. Even bigger is when a legendary player like LeBron James is involved. Because at this point in his career, everything LeBron does makes history. That’s not an exaggeration. Here’s the News Herald reporting on tomorrow’s Pacers at Cavs event:

The Cavs and Indiana Pacers are deadlocked, 3-3, heading into their game at 1 p.m. April 29 at Quicken Loans Arena. The winner, or, more appropriately, the survivor, advances to the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Toronto Raptors.

“I think Game 7 is the greatest two words in sports,” Cavs star LeBron James told reporters in Indianapolis after the Cavaliers were crushed, 121-87, in Game 6 on April 27. “With us having Game 7 on our home floor, our fans are going to be truly excited to be a part of that. I hope our guys are excited about that as well.

“Just don’t take these moments for granted. I’ve been part of Game 7’s for quite a while. It’s something you wish you can get back when you’re not playing the game anymore.”

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Kevin Love dealing with thumb sprain

The Cavs played winning basketball for a huge stretch as the regular season came to a close, but in two playoff games against the Pacers they have one win and one loss but easily could have been down 0-2. Complicating matters is the health of Kevin Love, who will be in action tonight but is playing through a minor yet still presumably annoying injury to his non-shooting hand. Just how good are these Cavs? The jury is still out. Here’s the Akron Beacon Journal reporting:

Kevin Love wore a support wrap on his sprained left thumb during shootaround and Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said the five-time All-Star center would play in Friday night’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference playoffs against the Indiana Pacers.

While warming up at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Love didn’t look impeded by the bandage, which covered his thumb and went across his knuckles.

Lue wasn’t sure if it would affect Love’s shot, but Lue was glad the injury was to Love’s non-shooting hand.

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Cavaliers sign Okaro White

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed forward Okaro White to a contract for the remainder of the season, which ends next week.

White (6-8, 204) signed a 10-day contract with the Cavaliers on March 18. He has played in six games (four starts) with the Miami Heat this season, averaging 3.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in 13.3 minutes per game. The second-year forward from Florida State has appeared in 41 career games (four starts) with the Heat, holding averages of 2.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 13.4 minutes.

Prior to his stint with Miami, White was a NBA G League All-Star in 2016-17 after averaging 18.4 points and 8.7 rebounds in 33.0 minutes over his 23 appearances with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. He also played professionally with Aris B.C. of the Greek Basketball League where he was the Greek Basketball Player of the Year in 2015-16 and was a member of Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna in Italy in 2014-15.

George Hill out with ankle sprain

Cavaliers point guard George Hill will miss Sunday’s home game against the Dallas Mavericks after an MRI Saturday confirmed he suffered a sprained left ankle in Friday’s home victory over the Pelicans.

The Cavs gave no timetable for Hill’s return.

On Sunday, the Cavs will also be without shooting guard Kyle Korver, who continues to receive treatment on his sore right foot. Korver has not played since March 19, leaving the team as his 27-year-old brother Kirk passed away on March 20.

— Akron Beacon Journal

Cavs sign Okaro White to 10-day contract

The Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday signed forward Okaro White to a 10-day contract.

White (6-8, 204) has played in six games (four starts) with the Miami Heat this season, averaging 3.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in 13.3 minutes per game. The second-year forward from Florida State has appeared in 41 career games (four starts) with the Heat with averages of 2.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 13.4 minutes.

Jordan Clarkson ejected after throwing ball at Dario Saric

Look. Basketballs get thrown around. To teammates. At the basket. And sometimes they get thrown directly at an opposing player who has been annoying you a bit. Here’s ESPN.com reporting on the closing minutes of the Sixers vs Cavs game:

The final moments of the Philadelphia 76ers’ 108-97 win over the Cavaliers on Thursday took an unexpected turn when Cavs guard Jordan Clarkson threw a ball at Sixers forward Dario Saric’s back and was summarily ejected.

With Philadelphia up by eight points and having an opportunity to run out the clock with the game already in hand, Saric dunked with 12.2 seconds remaining.

Upon collecting the ball after it went through the hoop, Clarkson tossed it at Saric’s back and was called for a technical foul, before being ejected.

“Uh, basketball, that’s it,” Clarkson said of the incident. “Part of the game. If anybody say different, that they wouldn’t have did that, that they’d have did something different or anything else, they lying. Especially if it was at that [point] of the game. They know what’s up. That’s it.”

LeBron James flattered by billboards pushing him to join Sixers

Every once in a while we hear of billboards put up in the city of a team promoting that a certain player stay with the team, or maybe join the team. But in this case, there are Sixers fans putting up billboards in Cleveland urging a player, LeBron James, to leave Cleveland and sign with Philly. How does LeBron feel about it? Here’s ESPN.com reporting:

LeBron James still hasn’t seen the three billboards that went up in Ohio this week, aimed at recruiting him to come to the Philadelphia 76ers as a free agent this summer, but he heard about them and says the gesture was flattering.

these appeared this morning in downtown cleveland

Cavs sign Marcus Thornton to 10-day contract

The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed guard Marcus Thornton to a 10-day contract, Cavaliers General Manager Koby Altman announced today.

Thornton will be assigned to the Canton Charge before tomorrow night’s Charge game against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in Canton.

Thornton (6-4, 190) has played in 37 games (32 starts) this season with the Canton Charge, the Cavaliers’ exclusively owned and operated NBA G League team, averaging 18.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists while shooting .408 from three-point range in 36.1 minutes per game. He was recently selected to the USA Men’s World Cup Qualifying Team that will participate in the upcoming FIBA World Cup Qualifying first round.

Thornton spent the 2016-17 season with Consultinvest VL Pesaro in the Italian LBA, averaging 13.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 28.5 minutes over 30 games (21 starts). He also appeared in 12 contests with the Maine Red Claws of the NBA G League and 28 games with the Sydney Kings of the Australian NBL in 2015-16.

The 6-4 guard played four years collegiately at William & Mary and was originally selected by the Boston Celtics with the 45th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft.

Koby Altman impressive in reshaping of Cavs

There was no shortage of shock and surprise when Koby Altman, the 35-year-old, first-time GM of the Cavs, reshaped the team’s roster with three major trades on Feb. 8.

It was Altman and his staff who targeted Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance of the Lakers, George Hill of the Kings and Rodney Hood of the Jazz. There was no directive from owner Dan Gilbert, no plea from James, no nudging from Lue, to go and get those players, specifically.

Everyone was wrong about Altman. Everyone.

“I think Koby did a heck of a job of understanding what our team needed,” James said this week, after the rejuvenated Cavs — to use an Altman word — beat Oklahoma City, 120-112.

“It just wasn’t working out for us, and he felt like, obviously you guys saw his quotes, he made the changes that he felt best fits our team,” James continued.

The Cavs enter the All-Star break as the talk of the NBA. They’ve won four straight, tore up half their roster and are being discussed again as a legitimate contender while playing with a renewed sense of energy since Hill, Clarkson, Nance and Hood arrived.

— Cleveland.com