LeBron Goes Back to Back Triple Doubles
Not since Magic Johnson (yeah the guy who owns the movie theaters) did it in the 1987-88 NBA season, has anyone had two sets of back-to-back triple double nights in an NBA season. LeBron finished with 31 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists last night against the Indiana Pacers in a victory. On top of that, it was a road game after a home game in back-to-back nights of basketball. LeBron’s line in Houston the prior night was 26 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists. Unfortunately for the Cavs, the first of the two games was a sloppy, sloppy loss to Houston at home.
Regardless, I think it is safe to say who is the clubhouse leader for league MVP at this point. LeBron leads the league in scoring and has led the biggest group of also-rans the NBA has seen in a long time to relative greatness. The Cavs are holding on to the fifth playoff spot in the east despite a host of holdouts and injuries. Add to that some serious trade rumors and it hasn’t been an easy road for the defending Eastern Conference Champions.
Last night’s victory over the Pacers didn’t come without a price. Another Cleveland player went down with injury. This time Daniel Gibson had his legs chopped while Travis Diener was going for a loose ball in the third quarter. At the time, Gibson was 5-8 from the field (5-5 from three point land) with 15 points in only 19 minutes of work. The good news is that x-rays were negative, so hopefully Gibson won’t be out too long.
So, the Cavs are now in a position where the trade deadline has passed. No more help is coming. They will have to treat each player returning from injury like an acquisition as they try to find a cohesive, healthy team to finish their run to the playoffs to try and defend their Eastern Conference title. It won’t be easy. In fact, it won’t even be probable. But then again, it wasn’t probable last year when the Cavs went out and beat the Pistons either.
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