CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Fans looking forward to a showdown between the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors and the on the rise again Cleveland Cavaliers were let down Friday night.
With the end of a long road trip and an overtime loss in Boston Thursday night, Golden State sat Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and Klay Thompson drawing criticism from fans who paid a premium price to get in the building.
“I know it’s a big topic around the league,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said prior to the game. “We have so much more data. So much more awareness of players’ vulnerability. It’s proven that if guys are banged up, back to backs, players are much more likely to get injured and miss more games and that’s why you’re seeing it league wide. Everybody is being cautious when a guy is banged up. You’re just playing the long game.
“We turn around and go home and play at 5 o’clock on Sunday without even a day of practice. That’s a hell of a thing, especially with what these guys have been through. We’re going to play it safe all year long as long as guys are banged up and vulnerable to injury.”
Load management has been used in recent years to protect star players and Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff believes the long-term product on the floor benefits with players being able to play longer than the generations who came before.
“It was a badge of honor for guys to play 82 games, right, and those old school players who did do that, but you would look at those guys also and 10 years was a long, long time for their career,” Bickerstaff said before the game. “You look at these guys and they're playing 15 to some guys 20 years. So it's a tradeoff of five games a season and you get five more years of these guys playing. So I think in the long run, the fans get their money's worth because guys do get to extend their career and play more years.”
Bickerstaff also understands the frustration of fans who only get the chance to see some players – like the Warriors – once per season.
“I know that can be frustrating for fans if those guys don't play, but I do think for the greater good of the game, getting these superstars and elite players for multiple years and multiple more seasons, I think is only good for the game,” Bickerstaff said.
Kerr, who played 15 seasons in the NBA, agreed with Bickerstaff.
“LeBron is what in his 20th year? And some of that, guys are coming in earlier and not going to college or playing one year of college,” Kerr said. “But I don’t think there is any doubt that the level at which LeBron is playing, Steph is playing, guys have figured out how to take care of themselves. We’ve figured out how to train them and give them the best care so it is extending their careers. The other thing that it is extending is their availability in the playoffs and I think about that all the time. If we just accede to everybody’s wishes and say, ‘All right we’ll just play everybody’ and then the guy is knocked out of the playoffs, what’s the story then – ‘Why the hell weren’t you smarter during the regular season?’”
Kerr continues to push for shorter seasons, even if the league office continues to resist the suggestion.
“I feel terrible for fans who buy tickets expecting to see someone play and they don’t get to see that person play. It’s a brutal part of the business,” Kerr said. “It’s why I’m going to continue to advocate for 72-game seasons. I know that means less revenue. But at some point, I think there needs to be an awareness from everybody involved – the league, players, coaches, performance staff. Let’s be really smart. Let’s take care of these guys and play fewer games and the overall quality of the game will be better, and if that’s the case revenue is going to go up anyway.”
Lesson learned – The breakdowns that occurred in the final 90 seconds of Wednesday night’s 115-114 loss at Memphis made for a quality film study the last 48 hours between Bickerstaff and his team.
“There were ways that we could have executed better down the stretch,” Bickerstaff said. “Obviously in that moment you got to get the ball in bounds with 3.7 on the shot clock and then at the end of the game you got to get a shot off to give yourself a chance. So obviously we would've liked to improve there, but my thing with the guys was there was an intensity and a level that they played at that I had a ton of respect for and appreciation for and we can clean up some of those things that we didn't get done at the end of the game.”
Don’t overdue it – The Cavs sat Ricky Rubio Friday night.
The team is being cautious not to overextend Rubio, who returned last week from a torn ACL that ended his 2022-2023 season.
“We weren't going to play him in back to backs to start with. And then just looking at recovery, being able to have two games or two days, excuse me, in between Wednesday, Saturday and then when we go back to New York, it was just the right thing to do as far as a rest recovery thing.”
Making the case – The Cavs have been campaigning for Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen to be named All-Stars this season.
Bickerstaff believes Garland is especially deserving, even though he won’t be named a starter because he is too far behind in fan voting.
“He impacts winning and that's what we, as coaches, we value is winning,” Bickerstaff said. “We want guys to represent the right things and Darius represents all the right things. He's selfless, he's a great teammate. He's a hell of a player on top of all those things, but he's what we want players to be as coaches and he's helping a team win at a level that I think should be recognized.”
While All-Star nods typically go to big scorers, Bickerstaff feels Mobley’s presence on the defensive end of the floor is just as good.
“Evan has had dominating periods – go to the Utah fourth quarter, Wednesday night’s fourth quarter [and] he's dominated those games from a defensive standpoint,” Bickerstaff said. “I think you've seen more of that. And again, it's one of those things where we always said he made a winning play or he did a winning whatever it may be, but now he's making or having winning quarters, where he is the most impactful player on the floor. And I think those are the things that we continue to talk about, but I think you're seeing him come to fruition now.”