Talking about practice: Cavs don’t need much
NBA’s hottest team is aging but results validate trust, rest.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this, but I could get used to it.’
Dwyane Wade
Going into MILWAUKEE —
Tuesday night’s contest in Milwaukee, the Cavaliers had played 19 games in about five weeks and won 18, which makes them the NBA’s hottest team.
They’ve practiced exactly three times in that stretch, and the one last week was an extended film session and walkthrough.
“We didn’t do much,” coach Tyronn Lue said that day.
Cleveland took a five-game winning streak into Tuesday’s game after taking Monday off. Virtually all NBA teams wouldn’t have practiced in this situation, as the Cavs are coming off games on consecutive nights — having knocked off Utah on Saturday in Cleveland and edging the Washington Wizards 106-99 on Sunday.
Rarely practicing is not a new phenomenon for the Cavs, who are the league’s oldest team this season and have been a predominantly veteran club since LeBron James returned in 2014.
But it is striking to new players on this team experiencing it for the first time, like Dwyane Wade, who in his first 14 seasons played in Miami and then Chicago, where team workouts were paramount.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, but I could get used to it,” Wade said.
There’s no real way to quantify if the Cavs have practiced fewer times this season than last, as no one exactly keeps track. But changes made to the NBA schedule to reduce backto-back games, three games in four nights, and four in five has meant playing every other day with more frequency.
And, again, because the Cavs are old and this is not their first rodeo — five of their players have been here for all three Finals — Lue doesn’t schedule practices when there’s a day between games.
The Cavs have proved they don’t need them.
“He trusts in us that we’re going to get our work done even when we’re not practicing, which we do,” James said. “Guys are in here on off days every single time we have an off day. When we don’t practice, guys are in here working on their game, and he just trusts us that we’re going to be ready to go in the games, because we don’t have much practice time.
“That’s huge for any team, commenting on the Cavaliers’ lack of practice but especially for a veteran ball club, that you have a coach that trusts you.”
James, the Eastern Conference player of the week for the second time in three weeks, is on a roll unlike any in his career. He’s averaging a triple-double over his last 13 games (two practices), with 26.8 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 10.7 assists per game. His previous, longest stretch of averaging a triple-double was six games in February 2008.
But he inadvertently raised an interesting question with his comments about practices. If Lue isn’t holding team practices on off days, but the players are still coming in for individual work, why not just practice?
“Because you don’t get the wear and tear of having a practice, or a full practice,” Lue said. “Guys come in and get their shots and get their treatment and then they’re out. You’re going to do that, anyway, whether you’re off or not. But it’s not a full practice where you’re locked in. You can kind of get your mind off the game, do your routine and get out.”
If anything, practices were more frequent in October and early November while the Cavs were losing (off to starts of 3-5 and 5-7). The practices slowed before the winning started.
The Cavs’ practice schedule is beginning to get some attention for next week because, well, they really aren’t going to do much. There are two scheduled off days between Cleveland’s games Dec. 27 in Sacramento and Dec. 30 in Utah, and as of now the team is headed for a two-day respite in Napa Valley, Calif., with no practice.
In-season vacations outside of the All-Star break are, let’s say, rare. But James’ 33rd birthday is the 30th; he, Wade, Kevin Love, and Channing Frye are wine connoisseurs; and who’s to argue with how the Cavs spend their time during the regular season? They’ve been to three straight Finals.
The Napa excursion is coming up, though, because Isaiah Thomas is nearing his debut and needs some practice time. But, again, this team doesn’t practice. And in a normal week, with two days between games, there’d be a practice to get Thomas out there before he plays in a game for the first time since May.