Although he said his players remain locked in and are working like consummate professionals, coach Tyronn Lue knows the Cavaliers are antsy with a nine-day layoff before the start of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday.
It is the longest break between series of LeBron James’ Cavs career.
Forced to await the winner of the Boston Celtics-Washington Wizards semifinal series, which concludes with Monday’s Game 7 in Boston, Lue said he’s trying some new things to keep the Cavs sharp. Scrimmaging will not be one of them, he said Saturday.
If Lue had given that notion a fleeting thought, it was quickly snuffed Thursday when center Edy Tavares suffered a fracture in his right hand during a pickup game before practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts in Independence. Such sessions are common among the players who rarely see game action.
Out indefinitely, Tavares is the Cavs’ third big man to suffer a serious injury. Chris “Birdman” Andersen tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a Dec. 16 practice and Andrew Bogut fractured his left tibia 58 seconds into his Cavs’ debut on March 6.
Tavares, 7-foot-3, was signed from Raptors 905, Toronto’s D-League team, on April 12. He was named the NBA Developmental League’s defensive player of the year after averaging 10.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and a league-best 2.7 blocks in 48 games.
While Tavares had been inactive in the postseason, Kyrie Irving understood why Lue won’t allow the Cavs to scrimmage.
“Absolutely I wish he would, but at the same time, I understand how important it is. An incident happened in practice where somebody got hit in the hand and it just wasn’t good,” Irving said of Tavares after practice Saturday at Cleveland Clinic Courts. “I was about to come out and play five-on-five and the incident happened three seconds later as T-Lue comes out of the door. Naw, I’m not for scrimmaging right now until the game.”
Lue said he can tell the Cavs are “itching to play,” even when they go through walkthroughs.
“You gotta show them new things. I’ve got to trick them at times, but they’ve been pretty locked in,” Lue said.
Asked how he tricks them, Lue said, “I don’t really trick, but you know just keep them engaged. Today was a good day for it — we did some different things today and it really sparked their attention and gave them a little something different than we usually do basketball-wise.”
Asked for an example, Irving said, “Just some defensive stuff. Testing us and things we could prepare for that could help us in any series [against] any team. Just a few plays to see if we’re watching the games and plays that we are running. There are regular plays between Boston and Washington, just seeing how we react.”
Irving can tell how anxious his teammates are getting.
“When we say we’re going about 50 percent, some guys are going 75 and 80 and some guys are going 25 and 20,” he said. “When you have a mix like that and we’re not necessarily shooting the ball, we’re just running through plays, some guys get a little bit antsy and mad and they want to go to the basket and finish plays.
“Just get everything firing again because you miss the contact, you miss getting hit and being able to be there for your teammate and get hyped and go in transition. Just the little nuances that make this game so beautiful and competitive and you love it. When you’re not playing it, you try to do anything to keep you sharp.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com.