Maybe the Cavs are resting players too often?

Brace yourself for some more strong opinions about the status of the Cleveland Cavaliers after last night. It will inevitably be everywhere on the hot take circuit after the Cavs lost once again. Elsewhere, the sports and politics crossover is bound to be a big topic of discussion in North Carolina and Arkansas in the coming days, bees interrupted a spring training baseball game and emotions were a reminder of just how much sports can mean to people.

LeBron and Cavs lose third straight game

Is it too late for the Cavs to just tank the season and play for ping pong balls? I’m kidding, of course… or am I? (I am.)

Is it time to hit any panic buttons in Cleveland? It’s a question that has been getting some play lately, and even the Golden State Warriors have heard that question pop up over the last month at times. The defending champion Cavaliers just dropped their third straight game and fifth in the last seven games played last night. The latest setback took place in Chicago, with the Bulls sending the Cavs out of the Windy City with a 99-93 loss after the Cavs owned a nine-point lead at halftime. Cleveland is now 7-11 since February 26, when they also lost to the Bulls.The Cavs are now in danger of being swept by the Bulls in the regular season, with Chicago owning a 3-0 lead in the regular season series this season, and they have already lost a hold of first place in the conference, which is now owned by the Boston Celtics, with fewer games played. Odds are probably still good that Cleveland will still be every bit in the hunt for an NBA title this postseason, but there just seems to be a little bit of a funk going on with the champs right now and it needs to be figured out before the playoffs.

The Cavs are now in danger of being swept by the Bulls in the regular season, with Chicago owning a 3-0 lead in the regular season series this season, and they have already lost a hold of first place in the conference, which is now owned by the Boston Celtics, with fewer games played. Odds are probably still good that Cleveland will still be every bit in the hunt for an NBA title this postseason, but there just seems to be a little bit of a funk going on with the champs right now and it needs to be figured out before the playoffs.

Whoever is behind the Cavs’ Twitter account is certainly looking forward to flipping the calendar to the next month…

The good news for the Cavs is the next game sure looks like a win. Despite having to play on back-to-back nights, the Cavs return home tonight to take on the visiting Philadelphia 76ers, who are coming off a seven-point loss to the Atlanta Hawks from Wednesday.

On the milestone front, LeBron James moved into seventh place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. He inched past Shaq, who offered some congratulations on the TNT set.

And holy cow, I totally forgot LeBron and Shaq played on the same team once…

And can we talk about those uniforms the Bulls were wearing last night? There are so many things going wrong here, from the sleeves to the ridiculous use of alternate gray… yikes. They looked like the off-brand imitation uniforms you would get off the rack at WalMart. Don’t do that one again, Bulls.

The NCAA (and ACC) still has an issue in North Carolina

The ACC Championship Game was moved to Orlando following North Carolina’s passing of HB2. With a replacement to the bill, could the ACC and other NCAA-sanctioned events return to the state?

The state of North Carolina may have taken some measures this week to address the controversy over HB2, often referred to as the bathroom law, but the pressure will be on the ACC and NCAA to respond carefully. Both the NCAA and ACC made the decisions to take championship events out of the state of North Carolina following the passing of a law requiring people to use the bathroom of their gender at birth (the NBA also took an all-star game away). Of course, this was controversial because that meant transgender or those questioning their gender could not use a bathroom they may identify with. But the state of North Carolina has state legislatures working to develop a compromise bill in hopes of luring business back to the state, including the NCAA and ACC.

Rachel Nichols of ESPN took a moment during ESPN’s NBA coverage to address the news, which was relevant during the ESPN’s NBA coverage because the league took its all-star game out of the state due to HB2. Nichols did not hold back.


Nichols was just getting warmed up.

ACC commissioner John Swofford released a statement Thursday that pretty much said nothing substantial. The ACC will review the situation in North Carolina in the near future as the conference figures out where its football championship game will be played in December. It was moved to Orlando last year, replacing Charlotte. The NCAA will get to this topic soon too. They’re a little busy right now.

Meanwhile, in Arkansas…

The Arkansas House voted to exempt sporting venues from an expanded gun law that would allow for a person to carry a concealed gun into a stadium. The revised bill still needs to get approval from the Arkansas senate before officially being signed by the governor. It seems like a tough loss for the NRA…

Quick Hits

Don’t tell TCU the NIT doesn’t mean anything. Via @dfwvarsity

– We’re all set for the Final Four this weekend, but last night was all about the NIT. TCU dominated Georgia Tech in the NIT championship game in Madison Square Garden last night, winning by a lopsided 88-56 final score. Georgia Tech went roughly 10 minutes without scoring a single point in the second half. That is just absurd. Consider that TCU won just 12 games last year and then made a terrific hire to bring Jamie Dixon to Fort Worth after his years coaching at Pitt. This was a special night for TCU hoops.

– The Montreal Canadiens clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoff with a 6-2 win at home against the Florida Panthers by using three goals in the first and third period. That’s called starting strongly and finishing with authority. The Habs are sitting in first place in the Atlantic Division with a six-point lead on Ottawa with just five games left to play in the regular season. Four of those games will be played on the road.

– Another Original Six club looks to be getting comfortable in the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Boston Bruins picked up a big two points with a 2-0 victory over the Dallas Stars Thursday night to stay three points ahead of Tampa Bay for the final wild-card spot. By the way, the NHL has an awful playoff system, but the absolute best postseason.

– The San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies had to duck for cover during a spring training game yesterday because of a swarm of bees roaming around the field

– When you tear it up in the spring and find out you made it to the big leagues for Opening Day, it can be a bit emotional. Here’s 27-year-old, former 33rd-round-pick Brock Stassi’s reaction to learning he made the Phillies’ opening day roster…

– A pair of minor league baseball teams are ready to determine once and for all which city makes better pizza; New York or Chicago?

– Who is the highest-paid employee in your state? This may come as little surprise, but it may very well be a college football or basketball head coach. In my home state of Pennsylvania, it is Penn State football coach James Franklin. Over in Ohio, it is Urban Meyer of Ohio State. And in Michigan? you got it. Jim Harbaugh. According to the data compiled by ESPN, college football coaches are the highest-paid employees in their respective states in 27 states. College basketball coaches like John Calipari (Kentucky) and Bill Self (Kansas) take top dollar in 12 states.

– Here is a Penn State trustee really coming off looking like an awful human being. People will continue to roll their eyes at this stuff (and deservingly so) until new blood can take over the board. The problem is Penn State’s alumni base is so large that it could take years, or even decades, for enough of that new blood not attached to the Joe Paterno era to become sizable enough to have any impact on the board.

– There is a new Fast and the Furious movie coming out, which has encouraged me to go back and try watching the entire franchise. I hadn’t seen one since the first one but figured I’d give it a try. One thing I have quickly learned is there is a ton of property damage in the films. Try $524 million in on-screen damage throughout the franchise.

Joss Whedon is on board to direct a standalone Batgirl movie. It’s way too early to tell how that could tie into the DC cinematic universe, but having someone with experience creating the identity for the Marvel Cinematic Universe is quite a reaon to be optimistic.

– Because America needs more reality–based singing competitions on TV, ABC is bringing a boy band singing competition to a TV near you.

One last gratuitous moment of procrastination

I tend to think a lot of these kiss cam bits during sporting events are staged with the intent to go viral, so take this one with that skepticism in mind. But if you want to believe the YouTube comment section, the woman claiming to be the one shown in this video says it is real.

About Kevin McGuire

Contributor to Athlon Sports and The Comeback. Previously contributed to NBCSports.com. Host of the Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast. FWAA member and Philadelphia-area resident.