NBA News Wire
Report: James, Irving have healthy exchange
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Cleveland Cavaliers stars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving exchanged words in what was termed a healthy discussion in the locker room following Tuesday’s loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, ESPN.com reported.
Irving left without speaking to the media following that game.
Cleveland is off to a 1-3 start after Wednesday’s loss to the Utah Jazz.
“There’s a lot of bad habits, a lot of bad habits been built up the past couple years,” James told the media after Tuesday’s game. “When you play that style of basketball, it takes a lot to get it up out of you.”
According to the ESPN.com report, James told Irving on Tuesday of his concerns regarding the direction of the Cavs’ offense. James scored 11 points against the Blazers and did not score in the second half.
James and Irving discussed the fact that Irving, the team’s point guard, has dominated the ball in games this season. Irving is averaging 3.8 assists this season. He scored 34 points in the 102-100 loss Wednesday to the Jazz but had no assists in 45 minutes of court time.
The Cavs had assists on only six of their 30 field goals Wednesday, the lowest assist percentage by a James team in his career.
“You just can’t explain [the low assist totals],” James said after Wednesday’s game. “There’s no way you’re going to win a basketball game like that, just having six assists. … We just can’t win like that, and we got to figure out a way to help each other and not make it so tough.”
James tried to quell the concerns of Cavaliers fans on Thursday by sending a tweet that read, “In the words of the great @AaronRodgers12 “RELAX”.
