The Cavs obliterated the Bucks earlier today in Milwaukee, at one point going on a 29-0 run, during which Delonte West abused several opposing players, scoring at will on multiple And-1’s. One of these And-1 baskets ended with LeBron James jumping off the bench shouting something to the effect of, “That’s my f—-ing boy! … Motherf—-er!”
What Tim and I noticed during this game was that the Cavs didn’t just play well - they played to kill. They didn’t want to simply beat Milwaukee, they wanted to destroy them. Besides Bron’s emphatic shouts from the bench, there was the entire bench jumping up and down shouting at the players on the floor to not let the Bucks score, and I remember one specific incident when the Cavs were in the middle of extending their lead into the 20’s where Bron openly clapped in front of a Bucks player who lost the ball out of bounds.
Watching the game in L.A., we got the Milwaukee feed, and their announcers - Jim Paschke and Jon McGlocklin - continually chided LeBron for his “arrogance” and “showmanship,” saying that great players don’t “act like this.”
I’d like to say that their opinion is completely discredited by the fact that they said Kobe isn’t arrogant … but I don’t want to turn this into a Kobe v. LeBron post in any way shape or form, because that would just be reductive.
I don’t know if it was Joakim Noah’s confrontation with LeBron that set this off, the team wanting to win one for Mo against his old franchise, or a culmination of what seems to have slowly been building with the team’s leader - LeBron - since the beginning of training camp, when I’ve noticed an individual who is not quite as warm with the media as he once was (after a win in Indiana a couple weeks ago, LeBron actually asked one reporter, “How long have you been doing this for?” in response to a question about whether or not he liked to have the ball in his hands at the end of the game), but the Cavs had an edge today that I haven’t seen from them previously.
It will be interesting to watch and see how this attitude develops - if it stays and evolves or simply goes away. As a not impartial observer, I appreciated the Cavs “will to destroy.” I think it’s been on its way ever since LeBron walked off the court in Orlando without shaking hands.
Like the Bucks’ announcers, other people may start to hate Cleveland if this keeps up … but so what? They hate us already. Just ask the reality TV show reporter Bill Simmons - he hates us. Chris Sheridan berates Danny Ferry. Even the Chuckster still calls Cleveland “The Mistake by the Lake.” Everyone talks bad about our hometown already. Let them talk … I’d be thrilled to see a repeat of the Pistons-Lakers series in 2004 when the new age Bad Boys from Detroit bodied the star-studded Los Angeles recreation of the Dream Team and most of America walked away upset.
Greatness doesn’t happen without a fight.
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