The Point Four-ward: More Rest For The Wicked?

Four points I’m thinking about the Cleveland Cavaliers…

1.) Count me among those who were actually surprised to see LeBron James suited up for Monday night’s game against the Miami Heat. After tweaking his knee in Sunday’s game against Orlando, James, who has spoken publicly of his desire to get some more rest before the playoffs start, chose to stay in for this road contest against his former team (and, likely, because of that).

After a couple of months in which James has sat out the occasional game on occasion (most recently, at home against Portland and on the road against Indiana) in order to give his body a couple more days to get right, James played, only to aggravate a wrist injury (in a collision with Hassan Whiteside) for his troubles.

Cavs head coach David Blatt has stated his desire for the Cavs to hold onto the second seed in the East going into the playoffs, so it’s unlikely that James will take off as lengthy a stretch as he did in December into January. Especially with the team resting Kevin Love, the Cavs need James if they are to win enough games to give Number 23 a prolonged rest.

As of now, Love is expected to play tonight against the Brooklyn Nets, though nothing definite has been announced.

But a strong couple of weeks (in which the Cavs only real powerhouse opponent is a road game against the Memphis Grizzlies next Wednesday) could give the Cavs all the hold on the two seed that they’ll need. Following a three game stretch from April 4-8 that sees the Cavs welcoming the Heat and Bulls to “The Q” and then traveling to Milwaukee to play the Bucks, the team finishes the regular season with a home-and-home against the Celtics and home games against the Pistons and the Wizards.

While I do think seeding matters to Blatt (the Cavs have been nearly untouchable at home as of late), it’s highly probable that, regardless of where the Cavs sit on April 8, James will be given those last four games — or about a week of real time — off.

For his part, James has gone on record as saying that he does not care about playoff seeding and believes he can win anywhere, regardless of home court advantage.

2.) All things being equal, James surely would have liked to have notched a regular season win in Miami. I mean, aside from the way in which he would probably like to win every game, a win with his new Cavs team on his old home floor would have tasted pretty sweet.

But neither of the Cavs visits to South Beach this season were even close to ideal situations in which to get that W. The Heat’s win on Christmas Day was just five days before James shut himself down for two weeks of recuperation and before January’s team-altering trades by the Cavs. And Monday’s game came at the end of the Cavs most brutal stretch of the season (10 of 14 — including the last four in a row — on the road) and they were playing without their starting power forward (of course, so were the Heat).

Also, Dwyane Wade isn’t going to have throwback games like he had in those two every night. He can’t. If he could, we wouldn’t be calling them throwback games.

So, the Cavs two losses in South Florida are not a good barometer of what could happen should these two teams meet in the postseason. If the Heat were to have a healthy Chris Bosh, I could see a series between these two getting tight — and even without Bosh the match-up would have its share of compelling storylines:

Can Wade play at a super-elite level over the course of a full playoff series? When will James shrug off the butterflies of playing in Miami and record a dominant game as a member of the visiting squad? Will Cleveland’s offense be able to solve a Miami team that can still crank up the defense when it needs to?

The Heat are currently seeded eighth in the Eastern Conference with an identical win-loss record as both the seventh place Indiana Pacers and the ninth place Boston Celtics. The Charlotte Hornets sit a half game behind that cluster of teams in the tenth spot… and really no team beyond that has a reasonable shot of making it.

However the Conference breaks, the Cavs likely will not have a cakewalk in the first round.

3.) Tuesday, March 17, 2015 wasn’t just a noteworthy date because of the general uptick in green-tinged vomit that ran the gutters of many an American street. It also marked Game 4 of the Chinese Basketball Association Championship, pitting the Beijing Ducks against the Liaoning Jiebao Hunters.

In Game 3, the Hunters withstood 42 points by the Ducks’ Stephon Marbury to escape with a 109-108 win and a 2-1 lead in the best of seven series. Led by former Cavalier Lester Hudson’s 31 points, Liaoning has won two games in a row and looks to keep the momentum going in this pivotal Game 4.

Why mention the CBA? Well, when its season concludes with either the Ducks or the Hunters winning the 2015 Championship, a few of the former NBA players on CBA rosters could make their way stateside in time for the NBA playoffs.

For a while, it was suggested that the Cavs might look to the CBA to shore up its depth at back-up point guard. However, once the Cavs added Kendrick Perkins, they filled the Ray Allen Memorial Open Roster Spot and now cannot add any CBA players — former Piston Will Bynum and former Knick/Warrior/Heat player Toney Douglas were thought to be the front-runners — without dropping a player on their roster.

The Cavs likely won’t dump whatever Brendan Haywood’s contract can become just for a playoff run with Toney Douglas. Likewise, Shawn Marion and Mike Miller — whether they’re in the team’s rotation or not — won’t be sent packing just so the team can try out a band-aid to put over the gushing hemorrhage that is its second-unit offense.

There’s a small chance that the team could waive rookie swingman Joe Harris, if GM David Griffin and head coach David Blatt agree that depth at the point is the missing piece to their championship dreams. It’s tough to see Blatt agreeing on a move that pushes Dellavedova, a player who has grown to be a favorite of the first-year NBA coach, further down the bench, even if it means bringing in a player who could actually knock down some shots (or, at least, threaten to do so) when the starters take a break.

It’s also important to take the availability of these CBAers with a grain of salt. The Cavs chose Perkins over signing another free agent guard with NBA experience — like Jordan Farmar — so it’s likely their roster maneuverings are at an end. Still, the players who become available in the next week or so, will be the team’s final chance to add a piece to what the Cavs hope to be a very deep run — a championship run, in fact — into the playoffs.

I like Bynum, personally (32 years old… 8.2 PPG in seven NBA seasons), but the Cavs will have options — including Starbury himself (?) — should they choose to make a move.

4.) So, what happened in Game 4?

Marbury scored 34 points in 43 minutes of action to lead the Ducks to a 111-110 win. Hudson scored 41 points for the second time in three games for the Hunters who missed out on a chance to take a commanding lead in the series and, instead, saw it tied up at 2-2.

Game 5 is slated for Thursday, March 19. Coincide with the opening day of the NCAA Tournament, Marbury and Hudson will be looking to dish out their own helping of March Madness.