LeBron James and the Cavaliers got blown out again on Thursday night. Just a few days after losing by 28 points to the Timberwolves—and causing LeBron to get a little bit testy with reporters—Cleveland lost by 34 to the Raptors in Toronto, even though the Raptors were without the services of both Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka. It was the Cavaliers’ seventh loss in the last 10 games.
As of right now, the Cavaliers don’t seem to have much of an explanation for their recent losing streak. After the game against the Raptors on Thursday, head coach Tyronn Luesuggested the Cavaliers might be struggling because guys on the team have "agendas." LeBron downplayed that comment by suggesting the Cavaliers simply need to get back to "playing ball the right way." And Kevin Love agreed with LeBron and said it’s just a matter of the Cavaliers figuring out a way to "play extremely hard and inspired."
Whatever the case may be, everyone in the Cavaliers organization is clearly frustrated at the moment, and no one seems to be more frustrated than LeBron. Outside of getting snippy with reporters the other night, LeBron also shared a tense moment with Cavaliers player development coach Phil Handy during the first quarter of the game on Thursday. LeBron was captured yelling at Handy and others during a timeout.
LeBron refused to elaborate on what he said to Handy during the timeout after the game. He said it was "just us trying to figure it out." But it could be a cause for concern for Cavaliers fans who are growing impatient with the way the team is playing right now.
One person who seemed to enjoy seeing the Cavaliers implode, though, was former Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving, who was over in London on Thursday for a game against the 76ers. Shortly after the clip of LeBron yelling at Handy started making the rounds on social media, someone realized that Irving had "liked" the video on the @ballgod Instagram page. It appears as though he quickly "unliked" it later but not before the like was screenshotted and shared all over the place.
It wouldn’t be the first time Irving has used social media to troll LeBron, but it definitely got the attention of NBA fans who have been following the ongoing LeBron vs. Kyrie saga. There were all kinds of reactions to Irving "liking" the clip of LeBron yelling at Handy throughout the course of Thursday night.
LeBron and the Cavaliers have more important things to worry about right now than Irving’s social media activity. But we have to believe LeBron is keeping mental tabs on stuff like this so he can use it later. For now, though, he’s probably more focused on the Cavaliers’ next game, which will take place in Indiana on Friday night with a matchup against the Pacers.
