SAGA OF UP-AND-DOWN CAVS HARD TO FOLLOW
For those who ride the NBA waves, things can get quite stormy. One could get motion sickness trying to follow the fortunes of the Cavaliers.
They were well on pace with a 23-8 record back in the middle of December, and even though LeBron James & Co. weren’t atop the East standings, it was generally believed that they remained the conference gatekeepers.
But 11 losses in the next 15 games followed, and, according to the chorus, they were toast. James looked exasperated, and from the arguments and body language, Cleveland was imploding.
Then came the trade deadline and a roster overhaul, and suddenly the Cavs were alive again. Could anyone possibly get past an engaged King James?
But since that four-game win streak, the latter three after the trades and two of those against high-quality foes in the Celtics and Oklahoma City, the Cavs have slipped a bit again.
The steady stream of plot twists has been dizzying.
“That’s the way the season goes,” said Kevin Love, whose absence with a broken finger hasn’t helped matters. “It’s the old cliche: you can’t get too high on the highs, can’t get too low on the lows.
“You look at the media landscape, you look at the 24-hour news services, there’s just so many stories now, and fortune and momentum can change on a dime, so fast that that’s going to happen. I mean, Boston’s a great team. There’s a number of great teams that have gone through it. Oklahoma City has unbelievable talent, well coached, and they had a slow start with a team that, we’ve seen before, has a big three. And they’ve been able to pick up their game.”
It’ll be entertaining to see how things break from here, though, in reality, the stuff that truly matters is still more than a month away.