INDEPENDENCE: His goal of playing in all 82 games is already dashed, but LeBron James doesn’t seem overly upset by it.
“I also want to wake up with a fresh hair cut everyday,” he joked Monday. “[Stuff] don’t happen like that.”
Despite his best intentions to play in every game for the first time in his career, that may have never been likely because of the Cavaliers’ plans to rest him. He’ll be back in the lineup Tuesday when the Cavs host the Portland Trail Blazers, but coach David Blatt has already warned the team may sit him again in the future on the second night of a back-to-back when warranted.
James’ return against the Blazers should go a long way in helping the Cavs end this four-game losing skid, their longest since January when they tumbled to 19-20 last season before rolling to the Finals. They haven’t played well lately after an 8-1 start and Blatt isn’t so much concerned with the postseason right now as he is the present.
“I think we need to have a greater sense of urgency regarding right now, not regarding what will happen in April,” Blatt said. “We need to get back on track. We were on track and we fell off a little bit and we need to get back on track.”
Iman Shumpert and Kyrie Irving participated in a full practice Monday yet again and continue to inch closer to a return. Both have been ruled out for Tuesday’s game, but both will travel this weekend to Orlando and then Boston. No official decision has been made regarding either beyond Tuesday.
Blatt played coy again about a timeline for either guard, then laughed when asked if the team does in fact know when both are expected to return but is just not sharing it now.
“I don’t know anything,” he joked. “I’m hopeful, not knowledgeable.”
Mo Williams also had an MRI on his ailing left knee Monday, which came back clear. Williams had been experiencing soreness in the knee for some time now and tweaked it again in Saturday’s loss at the Miami Heat, prompting the MRI. He will participate in shootaround Tuesday morning and is expected to be available against the Blazers.
James intimated Monday his goal to play in all 82 stemmed from how his health has previously been scrutinized. Much was made over the two weeks he missed last season to tend to knee and back issues and may have cost him some votes on Most Valuable Player ballots. James finished third in MVP voting last season.
“It was more about the health. I want to be healthy enough where I can play all 82,” James said. “My health has been questioned and people have been talking a lot about what I’ve done over the course of my season. I’ve always predicated my game off of how I treat my body and protect my body.
“A lot of people think I just go out and I just play. It was a whole mindset of saying I want to be available for 82 games if needed and to this point, I have been.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.