Fresh off a horrible weekend, the Cleveland Cavaliers had a close bounce back win at home over the Indiana Pacers behind solid performance from LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and J.R. Smith. The win marked the end of a less than stellar February which saw the Cavs go 8-5 for the month. The King returned after a one game absence due to rest and that might not be the end of the rest for LeBron and some other starters.
Following from Joe Vardon on Cleveland.com.
James says his team, through no fault of its own, simply doesn’t have enough experience to avoid these bumps and bruises.
There could be more coming. March sets up to be a brutal month from a scheduling perspective, in which the team will play eight of 16 games on the road. The road ahead is so treacherous, in fact the Cavs didn’t schedule practice Tuesday or Wednesday, and don’t play again until Friday at home against the Wizards.
Not only is James going to sit some games in March – he’s apparently going to meet with Tyronn Lue to map them out – but Lue also plans to rest Irving, Love and Smith.
James is holding firm to his belief that his team will be ready come April when the playoffs start, and his wish for March is for the Cavs to “to continue to work our habits.
“That’s the only thing that kind of matters, so when the big dance starts, which is the postseason, we have something to fall back on with the habits we’ve built throughout the season,” he said.
While there is no clear plan for rest, I heavily doubt the Cavs will just pick a random game and say ‘OK, LeBron, Kyrie, Kevin, J.R., take the night off’. The resting will come with a stagger and they will pick and choose their games that these guys take off.
Also, a big benefit is the return of Kyrie Irving. He officially came back to the Cavs a few months ago but it appears that he has finally gotten his legs under him. In February, Kyrie averaged 23 points per game, with 5.2 assists and shooting 50% from the field and 38% from three-point range in an average of 31.6 minutes per game in 13 games played. It’s a vast difference from his January where Kyrie played 16 games, averaging 17.2 points per game, 4 assists and shooting 44% from the field and an atrocious 25% from the field.
If LeBron takes a handful of games off it could allow Kyrie and even Kevin Love to get into peak playoff readiness going into the homestretch.
