Let’s just get this out of the way off the top: The Cleveland Cavaliers are a terrific basketball team with terrific basketball players and a coach who can, at the very least, wear a suit and stand on his feet for the better part of 48 minutes.
So there’s that. They’re good, and there’s nothing they can say away from the court that will change those facts. But man, they’re certainly trying.
The Cavaliers either have the most incredibly inflated sense of self-worth in all of sports — no small feat — or they’re currently pulling off one of the greatest trollings we’ve seen in quite some time. Following Sunday’s dramatic, buzzer-beating win over the Chicago Bulls in their second-round NBA playoffs series, the Cavs met with the media and it was glorious.
At least it was glorious for anyone interested in making fun of millionaire athletes and coaches for taking life far too serious.
Let’s start with head coach David Blatt, shall we? The rookie head coach has been under the gun all season long. He was bombarded with criticism earlier in the season, and there’s been this sense all season long that he’s not really calling the shots. This is LeBron James’ team through and through, even to the point where everyone just assumes LeBron runs things. He basically said as much Sunday.
That’s not stopping Blatt from selling his job as uber important to the point Monday where he felt the need to make a ridiculous comparison between his job (NBA head coach) and fighter pilot.
[tweet https://twitter.com/mcten/status/597840276560826368 align=’center’]
The only thing that even compares to being an NBA head coach is being a fighter pilot. Give it a few moments to marinate and realize how stupid that is.
Again, as we just mentioned, LeBron basically ignored Blatt’s play-call in the final seconds, and it worked out, so whatever. Still, it’s a pretty damming thing, right? Like, that’s kind of a big deal, isn’t it, Coach?
Eh, not so fast.
[tweet https://twitter.com/EthanJSkolnick/status/597823729616322560 align=’center’]
Then again, James has his own reasons for why Blatt’s so scrutinized.
[tweet https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/597820364069167105 align=’center’]
While Blatt is living in his own dream world, James and Cavs guard Kyrie Irving are doing all they can to either oversell just how tough they are or plant seeds of excuses for if and when the Bulls win the series. Now, in their defense, both players appear to be playing through some pretty legitimate injuries. James rolled his ankle Sunday while Irving is playing through knee tendonitis and a foot strain.
Neither player is very shy when it comes to talking about their respective ailments, though.
[tweet https://twitter.com/WindhorstESPN/status/597825642634289152 align=’center’]
Again, props for playing — and playing well — through the injuries. But this just kind of comes off as “Look at me, I’m playing hurt.”
Oh, and speaking of, that brings us to LeBron James, as we’ve saved the best for last. James has never been shy to speak about himself, and that seems to have increased in the last 24 hours or so. He confidently stated “This series needs me” in a postgame interview Sunday, and on Monday, he revealed this little tidbit about the end of the game and his injury.
[tweet https://twitter.com/EthanJSkolnick/status/597820640431734784 align=’center’]
Heroes. All of them.
Thumbnail photo via Ken Blaze/USA TODAY Sports Images
