- Home›
- sports›
- NBA»
- LeBron James Shoved His Coach To Keep Him From Getting A Technical Amid Rumors That The Cavs Have Turned On Him
LeBron James Shoved His Coach To Keep Him From Getting A Technical Amid Rumors That The Cavs Have Turned On Him
Tony ManfredJan 14, 2015, 19:37 IST
LeBron James had good intentions when he shoved coach David Blatt back toward the bench to keep him from getting a technical foul during Tuesday's loss to the Phoenix Suns.
But the mechanics of the thing - LeBron literally pushing the first-year coach aside so he could take matters into his own hands - make it an easy metaphor for the power struggle between the two over the past four months.
The Cavaliers fell to 19-20 with the loss. Kevin Love was benched in the fourth quarter, J.R. Smith took 19 shots, and Kyrie Irving turned it over eight times.
LeBron has been something of a player-coach all year, and it appears to be coming to a head now. After the game ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported that the players are undermining Blatt:
It isn't just the casinos that are agape at how this is playing out -- the Cavs were 4-15 in their past 19 games against the spread coming in to Tuesday -- so are league scouts, executives and rival players
They see players appearing to run different plays than the bench calls, see assistant coach Tyronne Lue calling timeouts literally behind Blatt's back during games, and hear Cavs players openly talking about coaching issues with opposing players and personnel. Not once, not twice, but frequently over the past several months.
While the shove wasn't as bad as it looked, what's going on behind the scenes appears to be ugly.