After the Cavaliers lost by double digits to the Heat in Miami on Monday, Cleveland head coach David Blatt said he’s eying a second place finish in the regular season standings.
It’s not as important to LeBron James.
Following a contest where both Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers had huge games against their former teammate -- and secured the second victory over LeBron’s Cavs in Miami this season -- James and his head coach seemed to have different priorities as the regular season comes to its finish.
From Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com:“We got to finish in second place,” Blatt said Monday after the Cavs’ 106-92 loss to the Miami Heat. ...
“The coaching staff, if that’s what they want, but for me, I never play for seeding. I just play,” [LeBron] said. “And wherever at the end of the season we land, I’m ready. Just get me in the playoffs. Get me in the playoffs, I feel like I can win on anybody’s floor. I feel like I can win at home. I’m that confident in my ability and our team’s ability. So I’ve never in my 12-year career played for seeding. That’s just not how I work.” ...
James has different goals for the Cavs in the last month of the regular season.
“Health,” James said. “Health and chemistry. We got to continue to build our chemistry. We’re a young group, as far as cohesiveness on the floor. So we got to continue to build that, and we got to be healthy during the playoffs.”
Obviously, it’s a balance.
The way the standings look today, it would seem as though Cleveland would have a pretty good shot at that second place finish. They’re two games up on the reeling Raptors, two-and-a-half games up on the banged-up Bulls, and three games ahead of a Wizards team that’s also been struggling.
This rivalry game against the Heat aside (and one where Kevin Love sat out to rest), the Cavaliers have been rolling teams; they’re 24-6 since Jan. 15.
The second place finish will likely come, but LeBron has it right -- because it won’t mean anything if Cleveland isn’t playing well at the time, or isn’t as healthy as possible once the postseason begins.