No. 1: Lue calls coaching Cavs ‘hardest job’ in NBA — Coach Tyronn Lue has climbed to the top of the NBA mountain once already, taking his Cleveland Cavaliers to a championship last season (and becoming the first team to rally from a 3-1 Finals deficit to do so). That path is difficult in and of itself, but he recently told ESPN’s NBA Lockdown podcast that leading the Cavs in and of itself is tougher than any other gig in the NBA. Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com has more:
With the services of three All-Stars and command of the biggest payroll in NBA history, Tyronn Lue has been positioned for success since becoming the Cleveland Cavaliers’ head coach in January 2016.
Even so, the setup comes with challenges that no other coach in the league has to face, according to Lue.
“It’s the hardest job, by far,” Lue said on ESPN’s NBA Lockdown podcast, which came out this week. “It’s the hardest job. But I’ve been through a lot of tough things in my life anyway, and I just try not to listen to the outside noise — to the media and what they have to say. As long as I have the support of [Cavs general manager] David Griffin, [principal owner] Dan Gilbert, my players, the city of Cleveland, the state of Ohio, as long as I have that support, that’s all that matters.”
The difficulty, Lue said, comes from not trying to win games, but from all the scrutiny that comes with the process.
“When I was a player, probably about seven to eight years ago, I’m trying to attack every reporter that said something,” Lue said. “But now I’ve come to the realization that it’s not worth it. People are going to say what they have to say, and they got to sell books or they got to sell stories. They have to do it. That’s their job.
“But it’s just, I don’t like it when they make stuff up. … If I didn’t do a good job or I didn’t do something [correctly], then I understand that. That’s your job. You got to write it. But when you make stuff up, that’s the part that I don’t get that kind of makes me mad.”
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Perhaps Lue’s most controversial decision this season has been resting his stars — LeBron James along with Irving and Love — at the same time on several occasions. Then again, Lue also was criticized for playing the 32-year-old James too much.
“That’s why I know that the media has to do what they have to do, because when you rest him, they cry, ‘Oh, he should play! [Michael] Jordan would never sit!’ And then you play him 42 minutes: ‘He’s playing too much!'” Lue said. “Like, what? So if you don’t play, you mad. If you play too much, you mad. … And I’ve come to the realization that it is what it is. That’s why I just try to tune the outside noise out.”
Lue said his relationship with associate head coach Larry Drew, who was previously a head coach in Atlanta and Milwaukee, has helped him handle the pressure that comes with the gig.
“Last year and probably the year before when Coach [David] Blatt was here, I just got so caught up in trying to be perfect and do the right thing every single time that you never take time for yourself or you never have time to enjoy it, and I think this year, I think you can see I’m kind of different,” Lue said. “I’m enjoying it more. I’m trying to enjoy it more and not let the outside noise get to me. … [Drew] taught me how to just take a step back and you got to live and take time for you and enjoy it, and if you don’t, it will kill you.”
Lue also said his quick ascension has contributed to the challenges he faces roaming the sideline in Cleveland.
“I just got thrown right in the fire, not knowing how I wanted to coach,” he said. “I had a thought of what I wanted to do as a coach, but when you’re coaching LeBron James and Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love and the pressures of winning a championship, it’s different.
“Like, I didn’t have a chance to start lower and work my way up to the top. I just jumped right up to the top, right into the fire, and that was tough. That was the hardest part for me because I didn’t get a chance to grow. I didn’t get a chance to even like have time to prepare. It was just a tough situation, and it was all God. I think it was all God to get through that and win a championship and be down 3-1 the way we did it. I mean it was just, it had to be heaven sent.”
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No. 2: Rockets want to ‘get greedy’ in Game 2 — After steamrolling the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1, the Houston Rockets would have every reason to rest on their laurels tonight in Game 2 (9:30 ET, TNT). A 1-1 series ledger as the series shifts back to Houston for Games 3 and 4 is nothing to feel bad about. But as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle notes, Rockets star James Harden is imploring his team to stay aggressive in Game 2:
With the Rockets’ 126-99 demolition of the Spurs still fresh, just moments after Rockets fans giddily serenaded James Harden with an “MVP” chant, Harden stood in the AT&T Center visitor’s locker room to deliver a sober, determined message.
“We have to keep that intensity,” he said. “I told the guys right after the game, as soon as we got into the locker room, ‘Let’s be mature. Let’s go out here and get greedy. Let’s get two.’
“With that said, it’s not going to be easy. We hit them in the first game; second game is going to be a lot tougher. The guys know that. We are ready.”
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“The best thing for us to do is to just forget about what happened in Game 1,” Rockets forward Trevor Ariza said. “Every game is a different game. The opportunities are going to be different, everything is going to be different. Just try to forget about Game 1 and refocus on Game 2.
“It is easier said than done, but in a series, I think you have to do that. Understand that you got a good win coming out, but move on from it because they are not going to play the same. They are not going to miss the shots they missed or have the same energy they had, so you have to understand that and understand that it is going to be a totally different situation.”
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That has not always been a Rockets strength. Since December, when the Rockets were still driven to prove themselves, they have generally handled adversity better than prosperity. They did win Game 2 against the Thunder after a Game 1 blowout, but that was at home, against a less accomplished team that imploded down the stretch in ways unlikely by the Spurs.
The Rockets won’t count on that, but said they can count on themselves, refusing to view their one win, no matter how stunningly lopsided, as much of an accomplishment.
“They’ll have a reaction,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “These guys are champions. You expect them to do that. I expect our guys to match it or exceed it. There’s no reason not to. We haven’t won anything so far. We won one game. It’s a long series.”
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No. 3: Warriors make life miserable for Hayward in Game 1 — Time and again down the stretch of the Utah Jazz’s win in Game 7 against the LA Clippers, Gordon Hayward came through with clutch buckets. That wasn’t the case in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Golden State Warriors, who made it their top priority to keep Hayward under wraps. Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune has more:
Gordon Hayward drove into the lane, pulled up and fired from the just inside the free throw line.
For the past two weeks (on days he hadn’t been sidelined by food poisoning), the Utah Jazz’s All-Star forward had been a consistent threat and steadying force for his team in the playoffs.
On Tuesday night, that first jump shot drew only iron, a harbinger of things to come.
It would be a long night for Hayward.
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In a 106-94 defeat at Oracle Arena, Hayward finished with just 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting.
“I didn’t feel like Gordon was hesitant to shoot,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “They did a good job trying to limit his looks. But the couple clean ones he got, he’s been making those, and I would anticipate him making those.”
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“He had a couple looks probably that he missed,” Warriors coach Mike Brown said. “But give our guys credit, they followed the game plan. … [O]ur whole emphasis, especially on Gordon, was to just keep a body in front of them and make them try to shoot tough shots.”
Hayward went 2 for 5 on contested looks.
“He’s an All-Star,” Warriors forward Kevin Durant said. “So you’re going to expect him to come back next game very aggressive. He missed some shots tonight. We did a good job of putting bodies on him, making him shoot over a contest. But he’s a good player, some of those shots might go in next game.”
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No. 4: Wizards, Celtics playing at perfect physical pitch — The NBA of the 1990s — the games marked by low-post battles and ultra-physical confrontations around the basket — are long gone. But the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics are proving after two games in their series that physical play has a place in today’s free-flowing, guard-happy game, writes Jerry Brewer of The Washington Post:
When 53 nerve-fraying minutes ended, the Celtics had claimed a 129-119 overtime victory at TD Garden. Once again, the Wizards flubbed a double-digit lead and a chance to steal a road win. But this felt more like a heads-up than a game of lasting significance. The message: The competition is on, and it’s hotter than anything these relatively young playoff squads have experienced. Let’s hope it doesn’t turn off until after the final second of Game 7.
“They’re a really good team,” said Celtics Coach Brad Stevens, who spoke with caution after Boston took a 2-0 series lead. “I don’t know if we figured anything out. We were lucky to win.”
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Playoff defense has yet to arrive in this series, but Tuesday night did include some of the physical play, all-out effort and wince-inducing collisions that you expect. Wall fell on his left wrist after swooping in to try to challenge Kelly Olynyk on a drive to the basket. Avery Bradley injured his right hip while vying for a rebound. Otto Porter Jr. spent several minutes on the court after Jae Crowder clocked him under the basket. And while suffering through his toughest first half of the playoffs, Bradley Beal took a shot to the face and landed hard several times, the victim of a Celtics defense intent on limiting his effectiveness.
The first game was light sparring compared to this battle. Isaiah Thomas had his face slammed onto the hardwood. Porter didn’t just experience the Crowder hard foul; in the third quarter, he was hit in the nose, and blood spewed. Of course, it got testy, which led to Morris and Thomas receiving double technical fouls for a third-quarter argument. But while the players grew frustrated, this was mostly a hard, clean basketball game. And it was played at the lightning pace that John Wall and Thomas prefer.
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Before the series started, Wizards Coach Scott Brooks predicted the teams’ well-chronicled dislike of each other wouldn’t influence the quality of play.
“It’s not going to be ’90s basketball,” Brooks said. “Those days are done. They’re not coming back, and thank goodness they’re not because it’s a great game to watch. It’s free-flowing, and it’s pleasant on the eye. And it’s not football.”
For a product of that bygone era, Brooks surprisingly resists nostalgia, and he doesn’t romanticize those days. He’s comfortable with how the game has evolved, and for good reason. This series is turning into a compelling example of what we should’ve learned the past few years: Postseason bruising is inevitable, but the game’s beauty doesn’t have to be optional.
In that aspect, the NBA is much closer to its 1980s heyday than purists would admit. No, today’s game is nowhere near as consistently physical because rule changes have softened the style, and even when the game turns rugged, it doesn’t reach the peak of past eras. But the game can again combine grace and grit without damaging the product.
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SOME RANDOM HEADLINES: Former Portland Trail Blazers star Brandon Roy was reportedly shot in the leg in the Los Angeles area … The Utah Jazz have a rebuttal of sorts regarding the Golden State Warriors’ complaints about the lack of night life in Salt Lake City … NBA Development League players will comprise most of the U.S. national team roster in 2019 …
