What does LeBron James like even more than bowling? Winning. A couple days after David Blatt surprised his team with an outing on the lanes in lieu of practice, The King showed his coach some love following a crucial basket from a sideline out-of-bounds play late in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 126-121 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Cleveland left a timeout up four on Los Angeles with approximately 47 seconds remaining. Knowing the Clippers would play the foul game, Blatt designed a perfect set to get Tristan Thompson an and-1 layup that essentially put the game out of reach.
See how Blake Griffin chases Kyrie Irving as Thompson sets a pin-down? Blatt understood that Los Angeles would anticipate James throwing the ball to Irving – a very good three throw shooter – as opposed to Thompson in this situation, and took advantage by having his big man immediately slip to the basket after the pick:
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Beautiful.
And just as important as the points themselves was LeBron’s ensuing reaction. After so much talk of Blatt losing his team and the recent “shove” by James (which was taken way out of context), that Cleveland’s best player went out of his way to show appreciation for his coach is a step in the right direction.
Both Blatt and James have preached the importance of patience in building chemistry. Might the Cavaliers finally be in the process of forging it? Two wins in Los Angeles isn’t enough to say for sure, but are certainly encouraging nonetheless.
What do you think?
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