LeBron ‘caught off guard’ by Blatt firing

“He will coach me and push me, and I’ll listen to everything he has to say and go from there”. “I know what something that’s not right looks like”, he then added.

James was told of Blatt’s firing during a meeting Friday with Griffin and his teammates.

Center Pau Gasol had 23 points and 10 rebounds and the Chicago Bulls beat the Cavaliers 96-83 Saturday in their first game under their new head coach. “When it does happen, we should have an understanding of how we can approach it and how we can get better from it”.

“I don’t think we’re in good enough shape”, Lue continued.

James reportedly was not a supporter of Blatt from the outset and team officials were aware of his sentiments.

“Like I told you guys before, you get so caught up in the wins and losses and I tell you every day, it’s not about the wins and losses, it’s how we play”, James said. “So, I’ve got a problem in general with this narrative, and those of you that have been with us for a while understand this. I missed three or four open shots, and I started off 0 for 3 from the free-throw line and it trickled down to everybody else, so I think we’ll be better, a little bit more relaxed and we’ll get back to the flow of our game”.

Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena and the Cavs’ players on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) will be decked out in green and gold, Aussie singer Cody Simpson will belt out Advance Australia Fair pre-game and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo will have native Australian animals to show the 20,000 fans in attendance.

James said Saturday he was not involved with the decision despite the perception of his impact on coaching decisions. It’s a risky strategy, but if reports are true that players were upset with Blatt’s inability to call out James, it might be necessary if he wants to maintain the respect of the locker room. But Griffin detected deeper issues and felt he had no choice but to remove Blatt and promote Lue, a top assistant and former point guard who won two National Basketball Association titles as a player.

“This was one where I didn’t need to ask them, because I’ve watched them interact with each other for a very long period of time under a lot of different circumstances”. Blatt was bothered by criticism his team led by LeBron James received after a 34-point loss to the defending champion Golden State Warriors earlier this week.

“We’ve been friends since I was 17 years old”, James opined on Lue.

Lue spent several seasons coaching under Doc Rivers in Boston and with the Clippers.

“Me and ‘Bron were friends before when I played”.