The Cleveland Cavaliers took what I called a ‘calculated risk’ in resting LeBron James for their game against the Washington Wizards.
I understand that LeBron has played a lot of minutes recently, I understand that LeBron is now officially on the decline. He is now leaving his prime and if you disagree you need to stop drinking the Kool-aid and get with the program.
The Cavs had to do it and unfortunately they got bit for it. They got dominated by the Washington Wizards. J.R. Smith was part of the demolishing and he, like LeBron, is concerned for the team.
“We can’t play basketball like this going down the stretch,” Smith said of the Cavs, whose lead over the Toronto Raptors for the top seed in the Eastern Conference now sits at just 1½ games. “There’s 24, 25 games left in the year and you talk about contending, being a championship contender and get blown out by a team. … After losing a game to the No. 2 team in the East then you come out and get thrashed and make it look good at the end.
“We can’t do that. If we’re serious about who we’re supposed to be, then we can’t do this.“
The Cavaliers need to buck up, because the dominance they had at the start of the season is slowly dissipating and that’s that not you want to do when the NBA Playoffs is on the horizon.
