“We want LeBron!”
The main storyline of Saturday night’s game was Cavs’ coach Tyronne Lue’s choice to rest his three star players. For such a high profile game, it seemed bizarre to many why he would make such a decision. The Cavs were on their first game of a back to back, the second being in the same arena against a mediocre Lakers team.
Although Irving and Love were technically injured and therefore not well enough to play two days in a row, ESPN analysts did not hold back from expressing their dissatisfaction in resting players. Commentators Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson managed to talk about everything except the game being played. Thus, taking their own day off from doing their jobs, so to speak.
In addition to much of the focus being off of the gameplay in the first place, the game itself was sort of a snooze fest due to the Cavs lack of star power and the Clippers’ low sense of urgency. Such a low scoring and unenthusiastic first quarter (16-14 Cavs) and first half (47-31 Clippers) set the tone for a lifeless, mundane game.