The Cleveland Cavaliers rested LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday and got absolutely smoked, but it isn’t (and shouldn’t be) a big deal.
When Saturday night’s game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Clippers went into halftime, you might have though you were accidentally watching a March Madness game.
The Cavaliers only scored 31 points in the first half due to the team deciding to rest LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. This left Tristan Thompson as the Cavs’ best player going against a Clippers team that was at full strength.
The Cavs would go on to lose by a score of 108-78 despite seven different Cavs’ players scoring at least 10 points, although none of them would score more than 12.
The resting of the Big Three has brought out plenty of criticism just as it has in the past and will continue to do in the future until something is changed by the NBA to restrict teams from resting players.
The only reason that this particular game was such a big deal is because of the situation. Not because the game had some serious playoff implications or any of that nonsense, but because it was a prime-time game on ESPN during March Madness.
Even die hard NBA fans will skip a few games in order to make sure they get their fulfillment of the incredibly mediocre brand of basketball that is March Madness (including me). The Cavs-Clippers game was one that was suppose to draw that crowd back towards the NBA, but the lack of star power put that idea to bed rather quickly.
Even with Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan all playing, it made for a mismatch that was essentially like watching a one-seed play a 16-seed.
So why did the Cavs rest their players anyways?
A prime-time ESPN matchup with a top-5 Western Conference team can bring out the best in players, but it isn’t like they purposely sat out to try and sabotage gambling lines (that’s a hot take I have yet so see).
Kyrie Irving missed the entire fourth quarter of the Cavaliers’ win against the Utah Jazz on Thursday due to soreness in his left knee. Knowing that a tough game against the Clippers was coming AND that the Cavs would have to immediately play against the Los Angeles Lakers the very next day, there was no reason for Irving to risk rushing into a difficult matchup against one the best point guards in the league.
Kevin Love is still in the extremely early stages of returning to the court after recovering from his knee surgery. Love playing more than one half in a back-to-back would be unnecessary (and dangerous) considering the physical state that he is in right now.
Let’s throw Kyle Korver in the mix too. Although he wasn’t “rested”, he has missed the last five games with a foot injury. Get well soon, Kyle.
Then there’s LeBron James, who is a robot built by aliens over 3,000 years ago and never gets injured. Why would he rest?
I’ll tell you why – and it’s not an answer you’re going to like.
It’s because he can.
LeBron James can sit out a game if he wants, simply because he has that ability.
Why would LeBron want to play against the Clippers without his two running mates only to go and play another game the very next day? Critics love to harp on LeBron’s high minutes total and this was a great example of him taking his workload into consideration. The season is beginning to come to a close and being healthy is more valuable than ever.
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And don’t give me that “For the love of the game!” nonsense. LeBron James has dedicated more to the game of basketball than any person will dedicate to anything in their entire life.
With no Love or Irving, instead of exerting all his energy for a game against the Clippers in which they would most likely lose anyway, why not get some rest and then expose the Baby Lakers the day after? It makes sense (too much sense, it would appear) from a team and management standpoint to bench the Big Three for the Clippers game given each player’s situation.
LeBron has played more minutes than anyone in the history of the NBA at this point in his career. He doesn’t need to justify why he wants to rest, whether it was his decision or not.
While it does make attending fans angry – such as the ones who thought they were going to watch LeBron James play and instead got 25-plus minutes of the Richard Jefferson and Derrick Williams show – there isn’t much that can be done.
What about the league's concern re fans and ABC paying a lot of $? Griff said, "Yeah, and they’re paying me to win a championship."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
The NBA is a business and people tend to forget that. The Cavs have to gear up for the playoffs and they found a great scenario in which they could get some free rest during a stretch that has them playing seven games in only 11 days (five of them being on the road).
Teams do this all of the time. The San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors have done it multiple times this season and it’s a brilliant move from a team and management perspective. When you’re cruising through the regular season, there isn’t a need to push players too hard.
There could be an argument made that the Warriors wouldn’t have been as tired in last year’s Finals and Steph Curry could have been fully healthy had the Warriors not pushed for the NBA record for most wins in a season. Yes, they did break the record, but I’m sure they’d much rather have back-to-back NBA titles under their belt.
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Whether or not NBA commissioner Adam Silver decides to step in and put and end to team’s constantly resting players or possibly extending the season to prevent such long stretches of games, it is something that will be a huge topic of discussion this offseason.