The Cleveland Cavaliers are on a big winning streak and the news and rumors are ramping up.
Check out the latest buzz below.
James Enjoying Leading Cavs
LeBron James is enjoying leading the Cavaliers, and is showing better leadership lately as the Cavs have reeled off eight straight wins.
He hit a key 3-pointer with 48 seconds remaining against the Toronto Raptors, and then yelled to the home crowd.
“That’s what I came her for,” James said, reported ESPN. He smiled as he recalled the moment afterward.
His star teammates are also having fun.
“It’s fun,” Kyrie Irving said. “It’s fun to be playing the way we’re playing right now, and it’s fun to be part of it.”
“We just have a good energy about us right now,” Kevin Love added.
Dellavedova Praised
A key part of the win was backup guard Matthew Dellavedova, who garnered six points, five assists, and three rebounds while playing every second of the fourth quarter.
“Delly is a guy that’s always been counted out,” James said.
“You know what I’m saying? ‘He can’t make it. He can’t do this. He can’t shoot enough. Not fast enough. Not tall enough.’ One thing about it: Heart and effort will take away a lot of the things that you cannot do. I'll take a guy like that any day on my team.”
Dellavedova also drew two charges against the Raptors.
“He’s incredible. He’s awesome. I don’t know how else to say it,” Irving added.
“He’s non-stop,” Love said. “We love him.”
Bleacher Report notes that the Cavs role players are finally beginning to shine, including Dellavedova, James Jones, and Tristan Thompson.
“Thompson has always brought a strong work ethic to the Cavaliers, and he didn’t utter a single complaint after being moved to the bench in favor of Love. Instead, Thompson has been the perfect big man to complement the offensive-minded Love,” it said.
“While scoring a solid 9.4 points on 53.4 percent shooting, Thompson’s strengths lie in his ability to clean the glass, play defense and set hard screens. Playing for a new contract next offseason, he’s become a favorite partner of James in the pick-and-roll, often finishing with highlight dunks.”
Toronto head coach Dwane Casey noted the impact of players outside of James, Irving, and Love.
“I thought we had (LeBron) under control most of the night,” he said. “But with that said, it wasn’t him that got the key rebounds down the stretch—that was (Matthew) Dellavedova, Tristan Thompson and different people on the boards.”
Irving Near Top of 25 Under 25
ESPN’s newest 25 Under 25 rankings has Kyrie Irving near the top.
TrueHoop’s Amin Elhassan and David Thorpe debated how John Wall was just ahead of Irving (third and fourth, respectively, behind Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins).
“I like Wall’s overall impact, what he can do defensively, he’s an elite athlete. He’s really the best athlete/passer at that position in the game. And I think he can’t shoot at all yet he’s becoming a dominant player,” said Thorpe, who had Wall third and Irving fourth.
“Whereas in Irving’s case, maybe the most skilled player not named Steph Curry--maybe even more skilled than Steph Curry--he’s a marvelous player, and I think he’s giving great effort on defense, I’m very happy to see what I see from Irving, but even with his best effort, he'll never be the athlete that Irving is. I think Wall has a higher upside than Irving.”
“I struggled with that one, because of defense, not because of athleticism, because Wall is all-league at defense, especially at point guard, where it’s a tough matchup every single night,” said Elhassan, who had Irving at third and Wall at fourth.
“And Irving not so much. But I love his skill level. That’s ultimately where i put the edge, I’m a guy who loves skill and I love IQ ... I can deal with him being a minus defender, I can deal with him being this or that as long as he’s skilled and knows how to play.
“That’s not to say that Wall isn’t, it’s just the gap between Irving’s skill and IQ and Wall’s is larger than the gap between Wall’s defense and Irving’s.”
He also said that he thinks both teams would be better if the two players were swapped.
James Leads Cavs Over Raptors
LeBron James acknowledged that it didn’t look good for the Cavaliers on Tuesday night.
As usual when his team is in trouble, he did something about it.
James scored 35 points, making the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 48 seconds remaining, and Cleveland rallied to beat the Toronto Raptors 105-101 for its eighth straight victory.
Toronto, which owns the best record in the Eastern Conference, went ahead midway through the first quarter, built the lead to 14 points late in the third and still led by 10 with about 8 minutes to play.
“I guess it was a little desperation,” James said. “You get down on your home floor 13, 14 points, you go out there and control what you can control. That’s how hard you play, how hard you defend. The defense got our offense going.”
James’ jumper from the top of the key gave Cleveland a 102-99 lead and tied him with Mark Price for the franchise record for 3-pointers at 802. James scored 10 points in the fourth, when Cleveland held Toronto to 13 points.
“That was a tough, hard victory,” Cleveland coach David Blatt said.
The Cavaliers haven’t lost since falling 110-93 to the Raptors at Quicken Loans Arena on Nov. 22, after which James said they were “fragile.” Cleveland got a measure of revenge with a 105-91 win in Toronto on Friday.
The Raptors built a double-figure lead Tuesday, but couldn’t hang on in the team’s third matchup in 18 days.
“If you want to be an elite team, those are the plays you have to make at the end of the game,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. “We had some crucial turnovers and crucial rebounds we didn’t get.”
Backup guard Matthew Dellavedova provided a boost for Cleveland in the final 12 minutes by hounding Kyle Lowry defensively. Toronto’s point guard scored 16 points, but only two in the fourth.
Dellavedova, who missed 15 games with a knee injury, returned Monday against Brooklyn and played the entire final period against Toronto.
“Delly’s a guy who’s always been counted out, saying he can’t make it,” James said. “Heart and effort will take away a lot of things you can’t do. I'll take a guy like that any day on my team.”
Dion Waiters came off the bench for 18 points and Kevin Love added 17.
Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross each scored 18 for Toronto, which had won 39 straight games when leading after three quarters.
Following Lowry’s missed shot that hit the top of the backboard, James added a free throw with 14.2 seconds remaining for a four-point lead. Ross’ dunk on an offensive rebound with 4.2 seconds left made it 103-101, but Kyrie Irving’s two free throws with 3.8 seconds left sealed the win.
James Criticized for Putting Arm Around Duchess
When King James touched the future queen of England on the shoulder after a basketball game, royal watchers cried foul.
LeBron James, whose nickname is “King James,” met Prince William and his wife Kate at an NBA game between Cleveland Cavaliers and Brooklyn Nets in New York on Monday. The three posed for a photograph and James put his right hand on the Duchess of Cambridge’s right shoulder.
According to protocol in Britain, a commoner is not supposed to touch members of the royal family — even if it is an innocent gesture.
Photos of the meeting appeared throughout the British media, with many outlets highlighting the breach and pointing out James’ sweaty post-game shirt.
“He may be known as ‘King James’ stateside but LeBron James raised more than a few eyebrows when he got up close with Kate, still dressed in a soggy sweater,” the Daily Mirror wrote.
Kate, who is five months pregnant with the couple’s second child, stood between James and her husband and smiled for the cameras, but the Independent newspaper said she appeared “somewhat awkward as photographers snapped away merrily.”
The official website of the British Monarchy says “there are no obligatory codes of behavior” for meeting a member of the royal family, “but many people wish to observe the traditional forms.”
“For men this is a neck bow (from the head only) whilst women do a small curtsy,” the website says.
In 2009, the British media criticized another American breach of the “no-touch” rule when Michelle Obama put her arm on Queen Elizabeth II’s back at Buckingham Palace.
William, who is the grandson of the queen and second in line to the throne after his father, Prince Charles, was on a three-day visit to the United States with Kate.
During the meeting with James, the American player presented the royals with two Cleveland jerseys. One was yellow and had the name “Cambridge” on the back with the No. 7 under it, and the other was red and much smaller with “George” printed over the No. 1 for their 1-year-old son, Prince George.
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