OKLAHOMA CITY — LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were all in the starting lineup for Thursday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, less than 24 hours after Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said the team’s Big 3 would “probably” all rest.
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Cavaliers to sign Derrick Williams to 10-day deal
The Cleveland Cavaliers plan to sign former Heat player Derrick Williams to a 10-day contract.
The Cleveland Cavaliers plan to sign former Heat player Derrick Williams to a 10-day contract.
“Nothing changed,” Lue told reporters before the game, which the Cavs lost 118-109. “It’s just I said I wanted to see how the guys felt, and they feel pretty good. We’re playing some pretty good basketball right now and they just want to keep it rolling. So all three guys say they feel pretty good, and we got a good thing going, so why not keep it going?”
In other words, the players likely convinced Lue to let them play as Cleveland had won six of its seven previous games.
“I said ‘probably’ I’ll see how they feel,” Lue said. “I just told you how they feel. They want to play.”
James played 41 minutes and had 18 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds. Irving led the Cavs with 28 points in 34 minutes, and Love had 15 points and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes.
Cleveland was without Iman Shumpert, who missed his second straight game with a sprained left ankle. Derrick Williams, signed by the defending champs Thursday afternoon to a 10-day contract, was thrown into the fire immediately, scoring 12 points in his Cavs debut.
“He can play the 3 and the 4,” Lue said of Williams. “He’s a good defender on-ball. Has athleticism. So, I’ll just try to work him in with that second unit, let LeBron handle it, let him play off LeBron a little bit with [Kyle] Korver and those guys and just see how we can get him acclimated.”
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