The Cavaliers have lost five of seven games, including a 124-122 loss to the Pelicans on Monday night, and LeBron James is not happy.
Via ESPN.com. here’s some of what LeBron said after Monday’s loss.
- “I just hope that we’re not satisfied as an organization. I just hope we’re not satisfied.”
- “We’re not better than last year. From a personnel standpoint.”
- “It’s great to have bodies. Obviously, in the playoffs, you go down to what, eight max? And if somebody gets in foul trouble, you go to nine. You’re not playing back-to-backs. You have two days in between. You’re able to lock in.”
- “It’s like when you don’t have bodies. It’s tough. The f—ing grind of the regular season. We’re a top-heavy team. We have a top-heavy team. We top-heavy as s—. It’s me, [Kyrie Irving], [Kevin Love]. It’s top-heavy.”
- “I’m not singling out anybody. I’m not. Yeah, we won [the championship], but f—, you know what, let’s see if we can do something.”
- “We need a f—ing playmaker. I’m not saying you can just go find one, like you can go outside and see trees. I didn’t say that.”
- “We got to figure it out. It’s been a s—ty 2017 so far.”
https://youtu.be/svxjAGh5ER4
Sheesh LeBron, tell us how you really feel.
LeBron says he’s not singling anyone out, which is technically true… He’s calling out everyone on the Cavs’ roster not named Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love.
James has been here before, so you know he knows what he’s doing. This is no impulsive rant that he’ll have to apologize for later. This is him firing up his team by making a fuss publicly. LeBron knows that his team is good enough to dominate the East and he knows that they don’t need another play-maker to beat out the Raptors and Celtics. He just wants Iman Shumpert and Kyle Korver and Tristan Thompson and everyone else to step up.
Of course, the Cavaliers will probably be fine. They still hold a 2.5-game lead over the Raptors for the best record in the Eastern Conference and will likely enter the playoffs with home-court advantage. In the playoffs, LeBron will inevitably turn into Superman, and odds are the Cavs will win the Eastern Conference for a third straight season to again reach the NBA Finals.
At that point, no one will remember what happened back in January.
[ESPN]
