CLEVELAND: Cavaliers star forward LeBron James and coach Tyronn Lue had nothing but high praise for Boston Celtics star guard Isaiah Thomas, who will miss the rest of the postseason because of a hip injury, but they will continue to conduct business as they planned.
LeBron James said at Sunday’s shootaround that the absence of Thomas doesn’t change the Cavaliers’ approach.
“We hate that Isaiah got hurt. Salute to him on an unbelievable season,” James said at Cleveland Clinic Courts. “What he was able to accomplish this year and the things that he did in the postseason under the circumstances with the tragic death of his sister.
“But for us as a unit, it’s never been about one guy. That’s not our focus. It’s always been about team effort and how we can put out the best game plan to go against their team. And they’re still well-coached. They still got players out there that are going to look for the challenge and are going to step up their play, so we have to be ready for that.”
In his pre-game press availability, Lue echoed those comments.
“Not much different,” Lue said when asked about changes. “We still have to lock in defensively. That has to be our mindset. To start both games in Boston, I thought we really did that. Coming out in Game 3, we’ve got to have the same mentality, a defensive mindset to start the game, and then everything else will take care of itself.”
Thomas was hurt in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on March 15 and aggravated the injury in Game 6 of the conference semifinals against the Washington Wizards, according to ESPN.com.
On Friday, Thomas scored only two points in 18 minutes. In the series, he made 7-of-25 shots from the field and 2-of-9 from 3-point range, averaging 9.5 points. That’s well below his numbers in the Celtics’ 15 playoff games, when he averaged 23.3 points and 6.7 assists.
Thomas did not travel with the Celtics to Cleveland, where the Cavs hosted Game 3 Sunday night and will host Game 4 Tuesday.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens said that something was off with Thomas in that Friday night game.
“He didn’t have his bounce, he didn’t have his push off of it,” Stevens said. “He’s going to go and see some specialists over the next few days, starting tomorrow, and determine the next course of action.”
Stevens started Marcus Smart in Thomas’ spot.
James’ PBWA honor
James was named the winner of the Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award by Professional Basketball Writers Association, the NBA announced Sunday.
Named after the league’s second commissioner, the award is presented to a player, coach or athletic trainer who shows “outstanding service and dedication to the community.”
James, 32, is the fourth Cavalier selected, following Austin Carr (1979-80), Eric Snow (2004-05) and Luol Deng (2013-14). The first winner of the award was Washington’s Wes Unseld (1974-75).
Other finalists this season were the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony, the Chicago Bulls’ Jimmy Butler, the Portland Trail Blazers’ C.J. McCollum and the Memphis Grizzlies’ Zach Randolph. A committee of PBWA members chose the finalists from a list of 26 nominees submitted by the teams.
“It means a lot,” James said of the award at the Cavs’ Sunday morning shootaround at Cleveland Clinic Courts. “I do so much for my community and my foundation does a great job of giving families and kids and the youth an opportunity to better their lives and better their futures and for that part of what I do to be recognized, it’s definitely an award that not only myself and my foundation but all my kids that are a part of my program and all the people that look up to me, it’s their award for sure.”
Through the LeBron James Family Foundation, James has affected more than 1,100 Akron students. His efforts include mentoring, calling their homes, writing them letters, buying groceries for their families, providing school uniforms and tickets to Cavs games and arranging group outings. He also holds an annual “Family Reunion,” some of which have been held at a Northern Ohio amusement park.
The foundation is also partnering with Akron Public Schools to start an “I PROMISE” school and with the University of Akron to provide four-year scholarships for some of his foundation’s students.
Asked when community efforts became a bigger priority for him, James said, “It’s always been a big priority as far as whenever I said if I’m able to become successful in whatever I do in life, I want to give back to my community.
But it’s all about trying to figure out what’s the most important impact you can make.
“Once we started shifting the bike-a-thon into the educational thing, seeing that these kids needed help at that particular point in their lives in the third grade and started to make it more about that and not only helping the kids but also helping the parents as well, that’s when it became more impactful because you know it can help these kids later on in life.”
Well, maybe they are
It probably wasn’t fair given Thomas’ season-ending injury, but someone in charge of Quicken Loans’ game experience certainly has a sense of humor.
Prior to Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals, Thomas stated the Cavs weren’t the Monstars, the all-star horror team from the film Space Jam.
Sunday night, the team came out to the film’s theme song.
Isn’t it ironic
Lue has played or coached for several championship teams. He was assistant on the Celtics team that included Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce. When asked which team he’s been associated with he compares to the Cavs, he didn’t hesitate.
“Boston,” he said. “When I was there with KG and Ray [Allen] and Paul and Rondo and those guys, that was a tight group. They did everything together, dinners and everything. This reminds me a lot of that Boston team.”
Browns night
Browns rookies Myles Garrett, Jabrill Peppers and David Njoku attended the game. Garrett and Peppers even took some shots before tipoff. Teammates Joe Haden and Corey Coleman were also in attendance.
Other stars
Amy Schumer, who starred with James in Trainwreck, and comedian Dave Chappelle were also spotted in Quicken Loans Arena.