Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said the other day that he was going to make sure LeBron James and other key Cavaliers were going to get some time off to rest down the stretch to make sure they are ready for the playoffs.
That rest starts Wednesday. Lue announced pregame Wednesday before the Cavaliers took on the Mavericks. Chris Haynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer has the details.
#Cavs will rest LeBron James tonight against Mavericks.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) March 16, 2016
Iman Shumpert and Tristan Thompson will start tonight versus Mavericks. Irving, Smith, Shumpert, Love, Thompson.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) March 16, 2016
Lue said LeBron will play both ends of a Florida back-to-back (Miami and Orlando) this weekend.
This is a smart move by Lue, it gives LeBron four days off between games to help his body recover from the marathon of the NBA season.
This also is a huge break for Dallas, if they can take advantage of it. Dallas is in a tight playoff race for one of the final playoff spots in the East and prediction models have them falling out because of their difficult schedule the rest of the way. Catching the Cavaliers without LeBron is a big break.