The decision to rest LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love during Saturday night’s nationally televised game apparently did not sit well with the NBA league office.
ESPN writer Ramona Shelbourne’s tweets from Saturday night relay the story:
Cavs GM David Griffin said he received a call from the NBA league office after it was announced Cleveland was sitting Ky, Kevin and Bron
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
When did the league call? Griff: "Seven minutes after it was announced. Yeah, they were not happy."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
Griff: "I feel bad for the league. I really do. But it is what it is for us from an injury standpoint."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
What about the league's concern re fans and ABC paying a lot of $? Griff said, "Yeah, and they’re paying me to win a championship."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
Griff: "We literally had 1 guy rest tonight & everybody else was reasonably injured. I don’t feel like we did anything terribly egregious."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
Griff: "It was nothing like the last time that happened. Those were three healthy dudes that rested. That’s not what happened tonight."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
Griff: "The decision made itself. Kyrie left the last game with a knee injury so we weren’t going to have him play both games of a B-2-B."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
Griff: "Kevin Love is rehabbing from knee surgery so he’s not going to play both ends of a back to back."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
Griff: "Korver is legitimately injured so u pick the game ur going to be the most competitive in and that’s the one Bron needs to play in"
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
Griff: "I can’t make [Bron] drag himself through this tonight by himself and then have everybody else play tomorrow and still not win."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
Why not play Love and Bron tonight and Ky tomorrow? Griff: "Because if they play tomorrow they get two days off in a row now."
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) March 19, 2017
It’s easy to see where each side is coming from. Had the game not been on national television, my guess is the league wouldn’t have even bothered to call.
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John Shaheen
March 19, 2017 at 12:02 pm
It’s a very long season and has become a more physical game. A rest is not fair to the fans, but would be worse if home game. As playoffs draw near and players are needed most…it becomes more important to avoid injury. The level of play starts speeding up soon to assure home court advantage.