No. 1: LeBron sorry for outburst at Thompson — The Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to get their playoff mojo working as the season winds down. After a 7-10 showing in March, the Cavs are off to a 2-0 start in April after yesterday’s 135-130 double-overtime win against the Indiana Pacers. However, as with most things with the Cavs, there was some drama in the course of that victory as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com details:
LeBron James apologized to teammate Tristan Thompson after yelling at him in a huddle during the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 135-130 double-overtime victory over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.
James appeared to be upset about defensive coverages on Paul George, who scored 16 consecutive Pacers points at one point in overtime and finished with 43 points. James, who had 41 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists, was George’s primary defender, but the Pacers were running plays that forced Thompson to switch to George.
Moments after Cavs forward Kevin Love hit a key 3-pointer for a four-point lead with 26 seconds left, euphoria on the Cavs’ bench was zapped when James and Thompson went back and forth. James yelled at Thompson as they were walking to the bench and waved off coach Tyronn Lue when he attempted to calm James’ down. Thompson snapped back at James, exchanging words in the huddle throughout a timeout.
Immediately after the game, James expressed remorse.
“I have to do a better job of not showing up my teammates out on the floor. I had the right intentions in my mind, but I had the wrong intentions come out of my mouth,” James told Fox Sports Ohio on the court after the game ended. “I take full responsibility for that as the leader of the team. So I got to be a lot better at that and be able to keep that in-house in the locker room and when we’re watching film.”
In the locker room, James expanded on his thoughts:
“I was a little bit too demonstrative at that point in the game,” James said. “He worked hard for our team, he’s a big-time player … but the way it came out was — it didn’t look good on TV.”
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It was a key victory for the Cavs, who stayed tie with the Boston Celtics in the loss column for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Cavs have the tiebreaker now but the teams play Wednesday in Boston, and the winner will control the tiebreaker.
Despite the win, the Cavs’ locker room was notably dour after the game. Kyrie Irving, who had 23 points, left without speaking to the media for the second time in a week.
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No. 2: Report: Ewing to interview for Georgetown’s vacancy — Save for perhaps Allen Iverson, no other players is more associated with Georgetown University’s basketball program than Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing. Although he’s currently an associate coach for the Charlotte Hornets, Ewing has tried to get a coaching job of his own for several years in the NBA. That hasn’t worked out but it seems he will be interviewed by his alma mater, reports CasualHoya.com:
Patrick Ewing will interview for the Georgetown head coach position tomorrow, a source confirmed to Casual Hoya this evening.
Patrick Ewing will interview for the Georgetown head coach position tomorrow, a source confirms.
— Casual Hoya (@CasualHoya) April 3, 2017
The source is apparently awesome, as our tweet was soon followed by a Woj Bomb confirming same:
Sources: After several phone discussions with Georgetown officials, Patrick Ewing will have formal meeting on coaching job in DC on Monday.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 3, 2017
Sources: Ewing has spent week identifying potential candidates to pursue as part of a high-level, experienced college coaching staff.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 3, 2017
The second bit of news would seem to indicate that this search is all but over, and that a full staff could be in place before the start of the live recruiting period on Thursday, April 6th.
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No. 3: Celtics’ turnaround reaches 50-win plateau — Hard to believe, but just three seasons ago, the Boston Celtics were wrapping up a 25-win campaign. After yesterday’s win at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks, the Celtics hit 50 wins for the first time since 2010-11 and have a tenuous grip on No. 1 in the Eastern Conference. Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald has more on what’s next for the Celtics:
There won’t be an additional banner hanging in the Garden or anything when they get home — no motorcade from the airport, no jewelry waiting at their lockers. But the Celtics won their 50th game of the season yesterday, and for a still-rebuilding team just three years removed from a 25-win campaign, this is no small milestone.
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“I think that a couple of years ago I would have thought that that was going to be something that we were really going to have to build for a while to,” said coach Brad Stevens after Isaiah Thomas went for 19 points in 24 minutes to lead six Celts in double figures. “But I thought that obviously we’ve been lucky to strike on a couple of guys.
“Everybody’s got a like mind with regard to the bigger purpose of playing for the Celtics and trying to compete every night, so we’re happy, but we’ve got to finish out these next five games well and then get ready for the playoffs. We’ll look at whatever we accomplish at the end of the season at the end of the season.”
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“I think it’s a special thing,” said Al Horford, who threw down a couple of strong dunks among his 14 points. “Not a lot of teams get to win 50-plus games in a season, so that’s good, and now we want to just try to keep building on top of it.
“It’s a credit to coach and it’s a credit to the guys in the locker room. We have a lot of young guys, and I feel like they’ve all grown up really quickly and obviously, needless to say, Isaiah’s game rising to another level also helps. I just feel like our guys really get it, and I’m just very happy to be a part of it.”
The Celts’ rise in victory totals from 25 to 40 to 48 last season were a factor in Horford’s free agent choice.
“That was one of the things I looked at coming here was just the potential,” he said. “But there’s always just potential. You have to go out there and do it, and I’ve been proud of the way we’ve gotten better throughout the year. As the year’s gone by, we keep getting better, and that’s what it’s all about.”
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No. 4: Could turnovers sink Westbrok’s MVP hopes? — Russell Westbrook is just one triple-double from tying Oscar Robertson’s single-season mark (41). His dazzling, nightly assault on triple-double history has launched him into a two-man race with the Houston Rockets’ James Harden for Kia MVP honors. But how will team success and a recent string of turnovers by Westbrook affect his late MVP campaign? Barry Trammel of The Oklahoman surveys the landscape:
Westbrook has done a lot of incredible things in this remarkable season, but completing this pass would have ranked at the top. Oladipo was barely behind the Charlotte defenders, he was in the opposite catty-corner and Nicolas Batum easily intercepted. Forty seconds into the game, Westbrook looked less like Oscar Robertson than Blake Bortles, throwing into coverage.
Of course, we’ve seen Westbrook do this all season. Sloppy first quarter, pristine play late. Westbrook’s turnovers per quarter go down on average — 1.6, 1.5, 1.4, 1.1.
But Westbrook’s reckless play is on the increase, 2.8 first-quarter turnovers the last five games, and it was contagious Sunday as the Thunder was crushed 113-101 by the Hornets at Chesapeake Arena.
The Thunder had seven first-quarter turnovers, then had eight more in the third quarter. The tone of carelessness had been set. OKC committed a season-high 24 turnovers total, the Hornets outscored the Thunder 35-15 off turnovers and the Thunder was handed a discouraging defeat that reverberates in a variety of ways.
Hope for the fifth seed is virtually gone, much less homecourt advantage in the first round. Seventh place is much more likely, though the Thunder was given a gift Sunday by Memphis’ inexplicable loss to the Lakers. Sixth-place OKC is a game-and-a-half ahead of the Grizzlies, but Memphis has the easier finishing schedule.
Probably even worse to Oklahoma City sensibilities are what a sixth- or seventh-place finish — and staggering into the playoffs — would do to Westbrook’s MVP campaign.
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If the Thunder finishes seventh, it’s hard to mount any argument for Westbrook, even with the scaling of Mount Oscar. There are only seven good teams in the West. And Westbrook could have only himself to blame.
His excessive passing, be it to get teammates involved or an early jump on a triple double, is laying a foundation of sloppiness.
“Just making bad mistakes, bad decisions, starting with myself,” Westbrook said Sunday. “Just gotta take better care of the ball.”
Billy Donovan actually disagreed. He said the Thunder’s decision-making wasn’t terrible, but its execution of the right decisions was lacking. Charlotte packed the paint, the Thunder didn’t get to its desired spots and when OKC tried to force the issue, it didn’t go well. The Hornets had 18 steals, their most in five years.
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Adams blamed the turnovers on “just the need to help out Russ a lot more.” Indeed, Charlotte was doubling Westbrook, but instead of whipping the ball around to take advantage of the Hornets’ sellout defense, Westbrook too often tried to force things.
Hard to criticize a guy for passing too much, considering all his NBA days he’s been labeled a ballhog. Which do you want?, he could quite appropriately ask.
Westbrook’s bullheadedness, his willingness to forge ahead into the belly of the beast, is breathtaking. And it ultimately helps create triple doubles. But it also might have cost the Thunder some games and thus Westbrook the MVP.
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SOME RANDOM HEADLINES: The Chicago Bulls continue to make headway in their late-season playoff push … DeMar DeRozan was showing off his court vision in last night’s win against the Philadelphia 76ers … The Miami Heat still aren’t sure when they’ll get Dion Waiters back in the lineup … Could Devin Booker be the Phoenix Suns’ point guard of the future? …
