Fatigue creeping up on weary Cavaliers
Three games in five days, cross-country travel real issue
SAN FRANCISCO— David Blatt admitted his Cleveland Cavaliers were exhausted from the grind of three games in five days with a cross-continent flight thrown in for good measure. LeBron James admitted he was worn out from the cumulative effect of too many minutes at too high a level of intensity, but he can’t afford to take even a two-minute rest because his teammates tend to give back any gains accrued when he’s on the bench.
The physical strain of the NBA final is getting to the depleted Cavaliers and it will the biggest obstacle they will have to clear if they hope to win the first title in franchise history.
Even though the series is tied 2-2 heading to Game 5 in Oakland on Sunday night, the Cavs are basically trailing; they don’t have homecourt advantage and they don’t have nearly the depth the Golden State Warriors do and the wear and tear is showing on them.
“It seemed to have an impact on us,” Blatt said of the schedule, which at least affords the Cavs an extra day off between Games 4 and 5.
“I’m not tired,” Cleveland’s Tristan Thompson countered. “Coach is out there seeing stuff so if he sees guys are fatigued, so be it. I’m not going to sit here and say I’m fatigued. I’m far from it.”
The biggest issue for Cleveland is they don’t seem to have enough good bodies to withstand the grind. The Cavs, having lost Kyrie Irving in Game 1, basically play seven players and James is shouldering a load that’s almost too great.
Even the two games they’ve won, the Cavs have staggered home in the fourth quarter. In Thursday’s Game 4, James tried to get a few minutes rest at the start of the fourth quarter only to see a six-point deficit balloon before he could get back in.
“I was hoping our team could buy me a few minutes,” James said. “I ran through those12 minutes in the third and I gassed out.”
More time for LeBron to rest — perhaps in the second quarter or even sometime in the third — would absolutely do wonders for him. It’s also unrealistic to think his minutes can legitimately be pared.
“It’s also a fact . . . I’ve got to give him a minute here or there,” Blatt said. “If I don’t, I’m really going to put him under more duress than he already is.
“When he is out, everyone else has got to step up and give a little bit more. We’re thinner now than we were, but that’s not an excuse. We haven’t used it as an excuse yet, and we won’t start now.”
But it’s not as if the Cavs have a surfeit of talent on the bench they can rely on. Perhaps Mike Miller could eat some minutes and not hurt them but a team without Irving, Kevin Love and Anderson Varejao isn’t going to be able to hang on.
“That’s the coach’s decision if he decides he wants to go deeper in the bench,” James said.
“We haven’t played many guys throughout this playoff run. I think it would help some of the guys that are playing some high minutes for sure, just give guys a couple minutes here, a couple minutes there.
“I was hoping our team could buy me a few minutes. I ran through those 12 minutes in the third and I gassed out.” CAVS’ LEBRON JAMES