The finger-pointing in Cleveland since Christmas has been seemingly non-stop, from players talking anonymously behind the backs of each other to public rifts between starters and denials that anything is wrong or needed to be done to remedy some the issues. All of the drama has played a part in the Cavaliers’ recent struggles.
Isaiah Thomas, who has been in the mix in much of the drama, tried his best to address each and every issue specifically this weekend, in an interview with reporters at the team’s practice facility.
No, he doesn’t have a problem with longtime friend and former AAU teammate Kevin Love and yes, he knows his comeback from a seven-month layoff has been choppy, to say the least. He went all in, as the Plain Dealer’s Joe Vardon captured here:
The Cavs beat the Indiana Pacers, 115-107, on Friday, but Thomas had a rough game with five turnovers and a 5-of-13 shooting performance.
During the game, Love grabbed a rebound and bent over to hand it to him in a mocking way (Love is 6-10, Thomas is 5-9). Thomas was also booed in the fourth quarter for taking bad shots and committing a turnover.
The Cavs were being outscored by 23 points per 100 possessions with Thomas as the starting point guard, which prompted coach Tyronn Lue to put Tristan Thompson into the lineup to help Thomas on pick and rolls.
Earlier this week, Thomas was the first to call out Love at the team’s practice facility for leaving the Cavs’ 148-124 loss to Oklahoma City last week and going home before it was over, and then skipping practice the next day. The situation quickly ignited into a heated, team-wide airing of grievances, the effects of which still linger.
Thomas left the locker room after Tuesday’s loss to the Spurs and Friday’s win without taking questions, so, Saturday was his time to respond to, well, everything.
Below are Thomas’ thoughts on everything from the team’s poor play with him on the court, to his version of what he said to Love and why, to criticisms of his shot selection.
“What did you trade me here for? To not shoot? To not find my rhythm? To not be Isaiah Thomas? I can’t be anybody else,” he said.
Yeah, follow along.
“You called out Kevin this week”
“To be real, I didn’t call him out,” Thomas said.
“I asked him why wasn’t he at the game during the game supporting his teammates. And then after the game, I didn’t ask him because he wasn’t there. So I was seeing where he was. So I didn’t call him out any. So those reports that whoever is saying that, there’s no bad blood between me and him. We go back to fifth and sixth grade. I asked him a question where he was and it was never clarified. And that’s all it was.
“So the rebound, I don’t (know). Did he say anything about the rebound?”
“Not on the record, no”
“And did you see I was smiling right after? Did you see that part? OK then,” Thomas said. “Like, there’s nothing between me and Kevin Love. At all.”
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