Cleveland Cavs hear from NBA office after sitting Big 3 in loss to Clippers
For the second consecutive Saturday night ABC game, an NBA team opted to sit its stars in front of a national audience.
But Cleveland Cavaliers coach Ty Lue's decision, unlike Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr's last week, was prompted by injuries. Cavs forward Kevin Love was never going to play Saturday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers after returning from knee surgery on Thursday night. Point guard Kyrie Irving, who left Thursday's win over the Utah Jazz with left knee soreness, didn't need to be put in harm's way, either.
With Love and Irving already sitting, Lue opted to rest a healthy LeBron James as well, which was the move that drew the NBA's ire.
According to ESPN, the NBA office called Cavs GM David Griffin seven minutes after it was announced that the Cavs were resting their stars.
"Yeah, they were not happy," Griffin said. "I feel bad for the league. I really do. But it is what it is for us from an injury standpoint."
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For the second week in a row, a national TV audience (not to mention a home crowd - the Warriors were pummeled by the Spurs in San Antonio last weekend ) - didn't get what they had bargained for. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said that if teams wanted to rest their stars, he hoped that they would at least do it at home, so fans would have another chance to see star players. This weekend was the Cavs' only trip to Los Angeles this season, though they'll play the Lakers on Sunday.
Not surprisingly, some Clippers fans began "We want LeBron" chants to no avail. Also not surprisingly, the Cavs scored a season-low 78 points in the 30-point drubbing Saturday night. Their previous low (85) came against Memphis, which was the last time Lue opted to rest his starters. According to Lue, James wasn't happy about the decision.
"It's tricky. He's pissed, but it's my decision, it's the medical staff's decision, and that's what we came up with," Lue said.
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Were the Cavs concerned about ABC and fans paying significant money to watch James and company?
"Yeah, and they're paying me to win a championship," Griffin told ESPN. "We literally had one guy rest tonight and everybody else was reasonably injured. I don't feel like we did anything terribly egregious."
Clippers coach Doc Rivers can commiserate with Lue's decision, even though his team snapped a three-game losing streak under the odd circumstance.
"There is a fan base that probably bought tickets tonight to see LeBron James play for the first time," Rivers said. "They didn't get a chance to see that, and that's not cool.
I think we have to protect the national TV games," he added. "We have to treat those games like they're afternoon games and you don't play the night before, and you don't play the next night after. It sounds so easy, but it's not because it's hard to schedule around that."
Follow USA TODAY Sports' Michael Singer on Twitter @msinger.
