Amid the catcalls and boos, LeBron James sought shelter from the storm before tipoff Thursday night at The Q. He approached Mo Williams, who returned his embrace. The booing reached a new crescendo. Anderson Varejao also hugged James, and J.J. Hickson made amiable small talk after that. It was just like the Cavaliers to do that. The message in...
Amid the catcalls and boos, LeBron James sought shelter from the storm before tipoff Thursday night at The Q. He approached Mo Williams, who returned his embrace. The booing reached a new crescendo.
Anderson Varejao also hugged James, and J.J. Hickson made amiable small talk after that. It was just like the Cavaliers to do that.
The message in body language was that they held no grudge against the superstar who gave a poor effort in last season's playoff series with Boston, who left them too late in the free agency period for the franchise to entertain any thought of acquiring a top free agent.
They made nice. They wanted everyone to just get along.
Maybe it was misleading. But the trend continued in the game. No one gave James a hard foul as he poured in 24 third-quarter, garbage time points. No one knocked him on his butt on a drive.
The Cavs are a soft team with no inside deterrent, a team that has to outwork and outscrap top opponents. That game plan went away about halfway through the first quarter. Probably, no amount of hustle could make up for the talent deficit, given that the Miami Heat, and especially the former Cavaliers superstar, were at the top of their game. But it would have been nice if the Cavs had tried.
The fans would have appreciated at least a small sign that the players were as passionate about the outcome as they were. The reporters, whose turnout was more appropriate to a second-round playoff series than an early December game, expected some indication that the Cavs, too, knew this was a big game.
But it seemed to be a regular little homecoming game reunion at times in the second half, as the Miami lead ballooned to a grotesque 38 points.
It was hard to tell from Dan Gilbert's Pressbox in the Sky, to which writers are assigned, whether James was chatting up Cavs bench players or assistant coaches during several third quarter free throws at the Cavs end of the floor. Giving media members a whiff of what's going on between players and coaches or players and players was long ago sacrificed by an image-conscious, money-grubbing league. Courtside media seats became season ticket-holders' seats for big bucks. Thursday night's jollity between James and members of the Cavs seemed to exclude assistant coach Chris Jent, anyway. In one television replay when that was going on, Jent looked particularly grim, despite his close association with James here.
Daniel Gibson said at practice Friday that it might have looked like he was smiling at James, but that the conversation between the pair was not cordial. Well, whatever.
But if former Browns quarterback Derek Anderson caught heat for a moment of levity on the bench during a blowout loss with Arizona, what manner of criticism might the Cavs have faced after they caught the Heat at full blast and put up the resistance of marshmallows over a campfire?
It was even more amazing that coach Byron Scott, who experienced the Lakers-Celtics grudge games as a Lakers starter, gave the players a pass after the game. Scott explained Friday that the players were hard enough on themselves after the feeble effort and he didn't need to pile on.
James has always been a man-child, a leader in locker room pranks and those ridiculous Busby Berkeley musicals the players used to stage during pregame introductions. Making him feel more uncomfortable couldn't have hurt. He did enough harm as it was, with a box score line of 38-5-8 in points, rebounds and assists he amassed in three quarters of play.
The Cavs trotted out several current and former Browns and Indians players and comedian Drew Carey, all clad in Cavs jerseys, before the game. Among them were Shaun Rogers, Bernie Kosar, Travis Hafner, Jensen Lewis, Josh Cribbs. The crowd roared long and loud. Hafner actually turned away from James' during his pregame powder toss.
No one who actually played in a Cavs jersey did as much.