Jefferson gives Cavaliers unlikely spark
When the Cleveland CLEVELAND Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors reconvene for the NBA Finals on Friday, watch Richard Jefferson during the first timeout.
That, as much as anywhere else, is where you’ll see what it takes for a 35-year-old who’s in his 15th season to make this kind of impact on this kind of stage.
“(Wednesday) night (in the Cavs’ 120-90 win in Game 3), when my body was sore and I had nothing left and during timeouts I’m just sitting on the bench because I need to just save every bit of energy I have,” Jefferson, who had nine points and eight rebounds in 33 minutes while starting for absent Kevin Love, told USA TODAY Sports. “During timeouts, you can’t be standing up. The minute and a half that they give us, you try to sit there the whole time, because you’re playing to exhaustion, you’re playing until there’s absolutely nothing left. Those little bitty moments — sitting for a minute vs. standing for a minute — those things add up.”
Regardless of what coach Tyronn Lue does — keeping Jefferson in the lineup, as is expected, or putting Love back in once he clears the concussion tests — Jefferson’s impact is clear.
Even before Love suffered the Game 2 concussion that forced him out of Game 3, Jefferson was a bright spot in a bleak loss. His aggression on both ends con- tinued in Game 3, when he set the tone during an early run that ignited the Cavs’ home crowd — a rebound, a drawn foul on Draymond Green and a three-pointer for the 9-0 lead that prompted a Warriors timeout and led to Jefferson shouting “Let’s (expletive) go!” over and over again.
Jefferson was with the Warriors for parts of two seasons before his departure helped put them on this championship path. In 2013, he was the salary cap casualty they needed to sign small forward Andre Iguodala.
He had mentored Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes while clicking with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. And now, he’s the wise old man whose combination of competitive fire and doeverything play has the Cavs right back in this series.
“He has kind of brought them a spark when it wasn’t quite there,” Iguodala said.
Jefferson is making this look easy when it is anything but. The man has logged 1,204 games (regular season and in 10 postseasons) and 36,079 minutes, and he’s the first to admit the tread on his wheels is getting pretty thin.
But this is a chance to win the championship that has always eluded him. This is as close as he has come since those first two seasons, when his New Jersey Nets lost back-to-back Finals. Yet now, as he makes this shift from a role player who averaged 17.9 minutes during the regular season to a glue guy who has averaged 29.5 minutes in the last two games, the challenge is different. And, to be frank, more tiring.
“You’ve got to work twice as hard now to slow the (physical) decline,” Jefferson said. “When you’re 25, you’re trying to get gains. When you’re 23, you’re trying to get gains. Once you get to this point in time, you have to work twice as hard just to slow the decline, because if you don’t work that hard, then the decline comes a lot faster.
Jefferson is ecstatic to be in this position.
“There is a satisfaction to it, but there’s also a satisfaction if it can be completed. I think that completion is what I’m really looking for. And if it’s not completed (with a championship), it hurts even more, because you’re so close to your ultimate goal.”
As if the pain of playing isn’t enough.