INDEPENDENCE: LeBron James is the Cavaliers’ king, but the king of the VersaClimber title may be up for grabs.
The intense 40 minutes the Cavs spent in the weight room Thursday still loomed large Saturday as they continued to practice for an unknown opponent in Tuesday’s opener of the Eastern Conference finals at Quicken Loans Arena.
That will mark eight days since they wrapped up their sweep of the Atlanta Hawks in the conference semis. Their next foe will be decided in Sunday’s 3:30 p.m. Game 7 between the Miami Heat and the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre.
“We don’t mind some rest, but eight or nine days is a lot,” Channing Frye said Saturday.
The Cavs had a week off after their first-round sweep of the Detroit Pistons and coach Tyronn Lue thought the layoff showed in the third quarter of Game 1 against the Hawks.
“I went back and watched that game two nights ago,” Lue said after practice Saturday at Cleveland Clinic Courts. “In the first half we didn’t have a lot of rust offensively. We took care of the basketball, we executed the way we wanted to execute. I just thought that third quarter we got a little tired.”
And that was after the Cavs went through two days of conditioning at the suggestion of James. So a longer break before the conference finals called for more drastic measures. Strength and conditioning coach Derek Millender put the Cavs through a training session Lue called “Four Quarters,” including time on the VersaClimber.
“That was pretty tough, but I thought it was great for us because the [players] could push each other,” Tristan Thompson said. “It’s great when all the guys are in the trenches battling that VersaClimber. We hate that machine. It was fun. I thought it brought us even closer together as a team.”
Asked who was the standout, Thompson said, “Of course I’m going to say myself. Others might say differently, but we’re all stars on the VersaClimber in our own way.”
But Thompson knows that an extra emphasis on conditioning will not keep the Cavs in game shape.
“No matter how many times you go up and down or do 17 down-and-backs, nothing can simulate the game atmosphere, the tempo,” Thompson said. “That happens to teams when they have a couple days off. For us, we’ve got to make sure whoever we play that doesn’t kill us or put us too (far) behind. We’ve got to come out and kind of throw the first punch, especially at home.
“We’re just trying to sharpen our knives and get ready for whoever we have to play and be locked in.”
Ten-year veteran Frye made it sound like focus was not an issue. He said he arrived at 9:15 a.m. Saturday and Matthew Dellavedova showed up 15 minutes later to get in extra shots before practice.
“We have a lot of guys going above and beyond, staying focused, watching the games,” Frye said. “If you’re not focused now, hey, I don’t know if this is the right sport for you.”
As for Lue, he said he and his assistants started game preparations Saturday, running five sets that both the Raptors and Heat use.
He’s also watched a few of the possible foes’ games, including the last time the Cavs played the Heat (a 122-101 road loss on March 19) and Raptors (a 99-97 road loss on Feb. 26). He’s added a few wrinkles to plays and devised a couple new offensive sets.
Frye on Skiles
Frye said he texted Scott Skiles after the Magic coach’s surprising resignation Thursday after one season. Frye spent a season and a half in Orlando before being traded to the Cavs on Feb. 18. He mentioned Skiles’ encouraging words that day after his 27-point performance against the Hawks in Game 3.
“I don’t know the full story of why he would do that,” Frye said. “I wished him the best no matter what he does. I had a great relationship with him. If he resigned, he resigned for a pretty good reason. My time with him was great and I’m sorry it ended up that way.”
No preference
Thompson is a Toronto native, but hasn’t thought ahead to the possibility of facing his hometown team.
“No, ’cause my mom is going to drive down here and come to the first game,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to her whether she comes to Miami or Toronto or Cleveland … she’s just happy to see me play.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.