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Some members from Generation Z might believe that the history of the Cleveland Cavaliers started and ended with a man named LeBron James (not once but twice). They couldn’t be more wrong. The Cavs joined the NBA in 1970 and accumulated plenty of interesting anecdotes through the years, especially early on. For example, they scouted the players for their expansion Draft with the help of trading cards that assistant coach Jim Lessig discovered while shopping for a few gallons of milk.

On that understandably subpar inaugural roster was also a man named Gary Suiter, whose biggest contributions were eating hot dogs in the stands during warmups and calling the front office disguised as a fan, lobbying for more playing time for—you guessed it—Gary Suiter. When the well-known bachelor tried to shake down the Cavs for bigger travel expenses by hiring a prostitute to play his wife, even the desperate Cavaliers had enough and kicked him out.

Later on, though, basketball really took off in Ohio. The Cavs featured some really exciting teams, especially when the aforementioned James came to town and then came again to actually win a title. Other teams that are fondly remembered in “The Land” are the squads from the late 1980s and 1990s that featured stalwarts like Mark Price, Ron Harper, Brad Daugherty, or Craig Ehlo. Exactly: the guy who is mostly remembered for crumbling to the floor after Michael Jordan’s famous first “shot”, one of the most iconic images in league history.

Facing familiar faces on the Cavaliers

How history and Cleveland will remember the current iteration of Cavaliers remains to be seen, yet it might very well be decided this year. The headliners on Kenny Atkinson’s team are mostly unchanged from last year’s Eastern Conference Finals sweep at the hands our Knickerbockers. That result could be described as another conquered mountain ledge on the Knicks’ way to the NBA summit, or seen as just another failure by a Cavs’ core that’s been trying to win it all for about three years now.

At the heart of that core has been Donovan Mitchell and he is still the headliner at Rocket Arena this season. The stocky highflyer is scoring an efficient 22.5 points per game while probably sporting one of the more explosive games in the league these days. Fans are lamenting his decision making though, criticizing his constant hero ball and what they get for a massive $273 million dollar deal he signed in the summer. Next to Mitchell, a now 37-year-old James Harden runs the point for the Cavaliers, which might also impact “Spida” negatively. The former MVP is showing his age early on, only connects on 38 percent of his shots, and looks disinterested doing it every second night out.

Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen still form Cleveland’s frontline—with all their shortcomings, yet also with plenty of talent. The ultra versatile Mobley has taken his physique and his game to another level in recent years, sports a much better jumper from the outside, and the former Defensive Player of the Year isn’t moved off his spots as easily he used to be. If you want a big to switch effortlessly on Jalen Brunson, he’s your man. His current season has been particularly promising with shooting splits of 56/48.6 (we’ll ignore the 63 percent from the line this time around). Allen is kind of there: big, athletic, and skilled, yet you won’t see him in any Strongman or Tough Mudder competitions any time soon.

A new supporting cast for Kenny Atkinson

After their four starters from last year, Cleveland has mixed it up a bit. They got emerging defensive specialist Peyton Watson from Denver (he is struggling early on with barely 10 points per game), found the talented Meleek Thomas (13.0 points) in the second round of the NBA Draft, and subscribed to the “Super Mario” Hezonja (8.6 points) experience. Sharpshooter Sam Merril and Jaylon Tyson are leftovers from last season and still contribute fairly consistently.

Even if Cleveland got a bit longer and a bit more athletic, you still have to wonder where all of this is really going. They are good but how good really? Can they really compete with the top teams in the East? So far there is just a lot of “meh” in their profile. Standing at 5-4 they rank 9th in offensive rating and 14th in defensive rating. They play with a solid yet unspectacular pace (thank you, James Harden) and are average at best on the boards or from the field. Cleveland doesn’t turn the ball over, which is good, yet doesn’t force any turnovers either, which is bad (only the Bucks and Knicks make the opponent cough the ball up fewer times than Cleveland).

To be fair, Cleveland is a team that for the most part knows who it is, and such groups can take a little time shaking off the rust, especially after a long last season—we as Bocker buddies know all about it. The Cavaliers, just like the Knicks again, have a lot of things going for them, but it seems like Cleveland unlike New York also has a definitive ceiling. I’d mostly call it James Harden as he has never shown that he can be the ultimate difference maker in the postseason, at least not in a good way. Until then of course the Cavaliers are a perfectly fine, quality opponent, especially at home. They just proved it in their NBA cup last night against the Philadelphia 76ers, dismantling the fighting Nurses 119-95.

Let’s hope our Knicks fare a little better tonight and that the biggest historical significance of this game is another win for the good guys. At the very least we don’t have to worry about any of our players binge eating in the stands before the game, I guess. As funny as that would be.

Game Details

Who: New York Knicks (4-4) at Cleveland Cavaliers (5-4)
Date: Saturday, November 7, 2026
Time: 8:00 PM ET
Place: Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH
TV: MSG, NBATV
Follow: @ptknicksblog and bsky

Maybe it was because it was an NBA Cup game. Maybe it was because Jayson Tatum was visiting his old stomping grounds. Maybe it was because the Celtics caught fire from 3. Mix that all together with a few notable absences from the Hornets roster and we got a 119-80 Boston blowout at The Spectrum Center on Friday Night.

Why the Celtics won

Before being drafted in 2023, Hornets’ Brandon Miller called Paul George his GOAT. You can certainly see the similarities. The lanky 6’9 swingmen are both three level scorers with the biggest difference being the decade-plus between them.

Unfortunately, Miller left the game in the second half with a groin soreness with 8 points, a rebound, assist, steal, and block.

His idol put up similar numbers. Miller hit just 3-of-10; George was worse at 3-of-11.

However, the mutual admiration society doesn’t end there. Tatum once posted back in 2015 when he was at Chaminade that he was “Baby PG” and even boasted that he thinks that he was the first college player to wear the PG1s at Duke.

And whenever the Celtics travel down to North Carolina, it’s always going to be a special trip for Tatum. Even though The Hive is 150 miles away from Cameron Indoor Stadium, Tatum just has superpowers playing in Charlotte. Out of the 29 other NBA teams, Tatum averages the most points against the Hornets at nearly 30 per game. And in an NBA Cup game where point differential matters, the defending Player of the Week scored 34 points in just 29 minutes. He was 11-for-11 from the free throw line and 5-of-8 from behind the arc and neared triple-double territory with eight rebounds and nine assists without playing a minute in the fourth quarter.

Numbers game: 24

The Celtics flirted with the NBA record for most threes in a game at 29, a feat they tied on Opening Night in 2024 against the Knicks. Boston had 17 at halftime and had it not been a blowout, they might have hit at least five more.

Instead, they settled for the NBA Cup record at 24 (on 44 attempts).

Must C’s

Up the eastern seaboard, the Maine Celtics opened their G League season against the Westchester Knicks in blowout fashion as well 123-94. Rookie Dillon Mitchell had six dunks and a triple, including this alley-oop from Milos Uzan.

Uzan and Chris Cenac Jr. had 21 a piece in the win.

Who said what

“Just trying to channel my anger into love.” — head coach Joe Mazzulla to CelticsBlog’s Noa Dalzell on his mid-game hug with Neemias Queta

Mazzulla called a timeout because Queta fell down (again) and instead of just yelling at him, he gave him a hug.

After two games, the Celtics are 2-0 with a +53 differential. After the Hawks beat the Wizards 139-132 on Friday night, Boston stands alone at the top of the Eastern Conference’s Group C. They’ll continue this leg of their road-heavy November with a stop in Milwaukee on Sunday and then the marquee face-melter on Tuesday against the 76ers.

On the final game of the Spurs recent home stand, Victor Wembanyama had a historic game. The reigning Western Conference Player of the Week scored a career-high 52 points, grabbing 24 rebounds and tallying 8 blocked shots.

After the game Wemby was seen signing autographs for fans with the game ball in tow. Moments later in the locker room, he handed off the momento to Mitch Jihnsion to commemorate the head coache’s 100th win.

Johnson, who took over for legendary Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, accumulated 32 wins while sitting in for Pop six games into the 2024-2025 season after he’d suffered a stroke. In his first full season as head coach, the Spurs won 62 games on their way the NBA Finals. After two losses to start the season,. the Spurs started a winning streak that as of Wednesday was six sicx in a row.

Johnson is t6he sixth Spurs coach to hit 100 wins with the Silver & Black.

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Luka Doncic has been nothing but extraordinary to start the Lakers’ season. He is hitting shots from all over the court with little or no separation between the defender and himself. The rest of the Lakers are feeding off his energy and playing inspired hoops. And the Lakers are winning! If Luka keeps this up, it will be a season for the ages. We can all thank ex-Mavericks GM Nico Harrison for what might turn out to be the most lopsided trade in the history of professional sports.

Dave Ring
Manhattan Beach

With all his logo threes, and fancy assists, Luka Doncic is the Caitlin Clark of the NBA.

Vaughn Hardenberg
Westwood

Last weekend a letter concluded the only name for a Lakers team that plays hard and entertains every night is “Showtime Lakers.” That nickname belongs to the Laker teams from the 1980s, just like “Phi Slama Jama” belongs to the early 1980s University of Houston basketball team.

Regardless of a funny, informal nickname for this season’s Lakers, so far the starting unit has been great fun to watch. Not only has Luka Doncic been on a scoring tear, but Luka has been getting back on defense and even raising his hand when a foul is called on him.

Ken Feldman
Tarzana

Not-so magical

I guess Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick forgot that LeBron James is no longer with the Lakers. How else can you explain the waiving of Dalton Knecht and keeping Bronny James. Am I the only one that noticed Bronny was sent down to the G League and Dalton had a successful debut with the Knicks?

Stan Shirai
Torrance

Comparison

USC fans have wondered whether Lincoln Riley could measure up to a certain coach across town. After his performance in the Coliseum tunnel and his postgame news conference after the Ohio State game — cursing out Buckeyes’ staffers one minute, reading a prepared statement about “internal joy” the next — we now have our answer: Riley can be every bit as unhinged as Mick Cronin.

Wes Wellman
Santa Monica

Time to change

As much as it pains me to say this as a lifelong Chargers fan, please trade Justin Herbert so he can salvage what is left of his once-stellar career (a la Drew Brees). I can no longer bear to watch the countless acknowledged injuries and unacknowledged concussions he sustains each game with this poorly coached team. You are destroying one of the “greatest quarterbacks” in our time.

Diane Hom
Claremont

It’s a coin flip

The most intriguing question on the L.A. sports scene remains: Which UCLA Bruins team will be anointed No. 1 in the country first, undefeated footballers or basketballers?

Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates

Greed is not good

LIV Golf Chief Executive Officer Scott O’Neil sure served up a heaping helping of atta-boy accolades. Lost in all that, LIV burned through $6 billion in under five years. Mr. O’Neil’s long list of accomplishments is lipstick on the pig. From inception that tour’s financial sensibilities were wack — $100 million, $200 million, $300 million signing bonuses before a stroke was played. Greed killed that beast.

David Griffin
Westwood

Friendly reminder

Thank you Bill Dwyre for reminding us that the game is played by the players and not by the announcers.

Does Joe Buck deserve $17 million a year, and should Troy Aikman even care, or know how much his partner is making? The guy’s a Hall of Fame quarterback, and as such, should be able to deal with life’s unfairness, if whatever he makes can be considered unfair.

Again, this is an insult to the workers, all of them, who barely can make ends meet. Both these guys should be grateful that life is unfair, but not if you’re making millions of dollars for flapping your lips about a game.

Ron Brumel
West Los Angeles

Sure shot

When I open my L.A. Times in the morning, I go directly to the sports section and search for Bill Plaschke’s column. I love his style and especially his wit. So he has a prediction miss or two here and there, but no one puts a smile on my face more than him. Keep it up Bill, we all need more laughter in our lives.

Carol Lindsey
Camarillo

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Email: sports@latimes.com

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

CLEVELAND — The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s apathy.

LeBron James has gotten many receptions from Cleveland Cavaliers fans over his 24 seasons in the league. None have been as half-hearted and uncarring as Friday’s.

There’s always been a certain buzz in the arena when James plays in Cleveland. That has been the case since he was in high school.

That juice, however, was lacking in his first trip back home in a Philadelphia 76ers uniform. There were empty seats before tip-off. The ovation for him when he was announced in the starting lineups was positive, but hardly more than respectful. No tribute video was played, as has been the case for the last eight seasons. There were smatterings of boos and cheers throughout the night, but nothing more than what any other high-profile player gets at Rocket Arena. And a good number of fans were content heading out while James was still on the court.

In short, LeBron was just another guy participating in one of 41 home games against the Cavs.

“At this point it’s become normal,” Donovan Mitchell said of James’s return. “My first year, you see it, and now it’s just, we’re playing the Sixers, to be honest. You obviously understand that the stands are going to be packed and obviously cheer for him, and rightfully so. He’s a champion, he’s from here, and he deserves all that and more for what he’s done for the city. At this point it’s just regular. … For us it’s normal.”

The normality of this reception stands in stark contrast to what we saw last year. Then, the crowd showered him with praise all game, ultimately moving him to tears. At the time, it seemed unfathomable that he would receive anything but love in the building he called home for 11 years. This summer, however, changed that.

James chose to leave the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency at the end of June. He then spent the first three weeks in July dragging his feet, leading those within the city and organization to believe he was returning to Cleveland. But then James threw a curveball and decided to go to a city he had no previous connection with and build a super team with the 76ers.

LeBron has earned the right to ring chase at the age of 41. But that comes with consequences, especially when you choose a conference rival over returning to a good team back home that also has a chance of winning a championship.

We saw the fallout of that choice on Friday night. There wasn’t the pain and vitriol from 2010. There wasn’t the love in all of his returns since 2018. Just emptiness.

LeBron understandably preferred this reaction to what he got when he first returned as a member of the Miami Heat. “Nothing can get as worse as December 2, 2010, from a reception standpoint,” James said. “I’ve seen the end of the depths of hell when it comes to a reception here.”

That night in 2010 was an absolute disaster. Cleveland should’ve handled that moment better. They have deserved all of the blame and condemnation that has come from how they handled that. Yet, hate comes from a place of passion. It comes from pain, an emotion that’s real. Fans cared about what happened that night.

On Friday, I’m not sure if anyone cared too much anymore. There was appreciation, but there wasn’t undying love. There was frustration, but not enough to actually voice that displeasure. Just a tiredness of a decades-long relationship that keeps oscillating back and forth, without either side really being sure how much they mean to the other.

That uncarrying is the saddest place a relationship can find itself, especially one as personal as this. Arguably no professional athlete has meant more to a region than LeBron to Northeast Ohio. The journey from being the teenage prodigy from Akron to delivering the first professional championship in over half a century for a sports-starved region is truly impossible to put into words.

The relationship between LeBron and northeast Ohio will continue in some form beyond this. Maybe that appreciation is there if he plays future games in Cleveland. And most likely, that outpouring of love will return for the inevitable statue and jersey retirement ceremonies.

But then again, that isn’t guaranteed. James’s choice to presumably end his career in a different uniform could just be the straw that broke the camel’s back. The rift that caused both sides to continue drifting apart forever.

Friday could have been LeBron’s last professional game in Northeast Ohio. Nothing about the future is guaranteed. And if so, there couldn’t have been a more pitiful way for things to end in Cleveland.

Friday’s win over the Hornets was every Celtics fans’ dream. Boston took an early lead and instead of letting Charlotte back into the game, they continued put the beatdown on the Hornets until they were up by as many as 46 points.

As sick as it is to get a worry-free Celtics win every once in a while, this one hit different. The fact that they were able to dominate an Emirates NBA Cup game like this simply means more — literally.

Boston sits head and shoulders above Group C now with a perfect 2-0 record and a +53 point differential. That second part is the key. If the first three runs of the Cup taught us anything, it’s that the points matter.

If you remember, the standings are decided by record, then head-to-head record, and then point differential. Anytime there’s a three-way tie, it goes straight to the points.

Boston is in full control of their fate at this point. Win their remaining games, and they’ll move onto the knockout stage — it’s that simple. As well all know, though, it isn’t always that easy with the Cs. In fact, they’ve never swept group play in the tournament. They love to lay an egg in some game that they have no business losing.

Their remaining matchups in the group are against the most formiddable teams — the Wizards and Hawks. These are two games Boston should win, but again, nothing is guaranteed.

In that case, we’re all thinking about points again.

If the best record in Group C is 3-1, then Boston could still win the group. But if it’s solely on head-to-head record, the other 3-1 team would likely be the one that beat them.

So… the Wild Card would be their only path forward.

After going down to Charlotte and bringing 48 minutes of pain to the hosts, the Cs hold the best point-differential in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers (+24), Heat (+20), and Pistons (+16) are the only other teams who are positive double-digits.

Granted, most teams have only played one Cup game, so they’ll have an extra chance to make up ground in that area. But Boston is looking good for now.

All of this is to say that as long as the Celtics win one more Cup game and don’t lose by a billion if they do drop one, then they should be on track to keep climbing towards their first ever deep run in the competition.

Frankly, if they don’t advance, it’ll be extremely disappointing.

As much as some fans don’t care for colorful courts and shenanigans that come with the Cup, it does add a lot of flare to these November nights and half a million bucks into the pockets of the players. Plus, if the Celtics are in a competition, you should want them to win every single time. The more trophies the franchise collects, the better.

Luka Doncic is hooping like he intends to run away with the MVP trophy. Making a point by scoring more points to start a season — 361 in nine games — than anyone since Wilt Chamberlain scored 472 in 1962.

Generational scoring run or the new normal? Could this historic meteor shower be the standard?

“I feel like that,” Doncic said, adding he thinks he can maintain his current 40.1-points-per-game tear. “But as long as we win, I’m good.”

And if he’s this good when the playoffs roll around, this undeniable, brushing off elite defenders Toumani Camara and Jrue Holiday en route to 53 points in Friday’s 124-118 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, then the Lakers could totally go on a Luka Magical run and win it all.

But if Doncic is not this good, the Lakers aren’t 8-2 right now, and they’re not sitting in first in the Western Conference standings out of the gate … with 72 more games to go.

There’s ability, there’s inevitability, bankability.

Read more:Luka Doncic scores 53 as Lakers avenge loss to Trail Blazers

And then there’s sustainability.

The Lakers are going to need to employ some serious conservation measures to get this version of Doncic — whose seven consecutive 35-points or better games put him on par with Elgin Baylor and Kobe Bryant as the only Lakers to stack so many in regular-season history — to the starting line that matters.

They need to write to Santa Claus and ask for a serviceable backup center. They need Austin Reaves to really rock and roll with the units that don’t include Doncic — who has the highest plus-minus and the highest on/off rating in the NBA — and to keep his turnover tallies low. They need to not just beat but blow out bad teams, to give Doncic a fourth quarter off sometimes.

And they need coach JJ Redick — who boasted in September that the Lakers’ “naturally deeper roster” would result in a longer rotation — to trust the process.

Even if the amount of “my bad” from his backups costs the Lakers some regular-season wins, it will, on occasion, make more sense to punt than to go for it. Like when you’re readying a less-experienced, less-familiar team for future battles. And wanting to reduce wear and tear on your engine.

A proven power-lifter, the 27-year-old Doncic is this season handling the heaviest workload (39.8% usage rate) in the NBA and in his career, while logging 35.9 taxing minutes per game.

He’s being challenged, pressed and trapped. He’s accelerating and decelerating and accelerating again. He’s charge-taking, pump-faking, piling up hoops-and-harms. Manipulating defenses and defending like he’s taken some slander personally. Arguing with officials and heaving vibey buzzer-beaters from all over the building, including a 61-footer that completely altered the complexion of Friday’s game, giving the Lakers momentum for the first time entering intermission.

And, no, he doesn’t need to play heavy minutes to prepare to play heavy minutes in the playoffs. He also doesn’t need to be wrapped in bubble wrap, but ideally he’d ramp up for the anchor leg instead of sprinting for the full marathon.

Remember what happened last season, after Doncic set the league on fire in March, averaging 37.5 points per game as the Lakers went 15-2 and announced themselves as challengers? He suffered a Grade 2 hamstring strain on April 2 that sidelined him for the rest of the season and doused the Lakers’ hopes.

And look around now; the league is a cautionary tale of the tape. Anthony Edwards, Chet Holmgren, Ja Morant, Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Williams are among the stars who’ve been lost to injuries.

The Lakers — who are starting the season by playing four weeks without a single two-day break between games — don’t want to be included in the discussion about what’s ailing the NBA’s highest-usage talent this season.

It might be that the game has evolved to become more grueling, that teams are averaging more possessions per game, that possessions are shorter and that defenders are picking up ball-handlers sooner.

But it’s not, Portland coach Micah Nori said, because guys aren’t in shape: “They all have individual trainers, and they all work extremely hard, and they put in a lot of time — essentially 12 months out of the year. Back in the day, no disrespect to those guys, but that’s why training camp was so long, because they needed training camp to get back in shape. And so now they’re never out of shape, and I don’t know if that has any bearing … but that’s the only difference I see.

That includes Doncic. “He is the best shape I’ve ever seen him in,” Nori said, proclaiming the Lakers’ star his (way-too-early) favorite for MVP.

Forget about that, though.

Shohei Ohtani being dead set on chasing the Cy Young Award killed the Dodgers’ chances at a three-peat. And Doncic doing too much and earning his first MVP honor wouldn’t do anything for the Lakers’ championship chances if he’s spent by the time the postseason starts.

He’s much too valuable for that.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, like a few other teams, found themselves completely preoccupied this summer with courting LeBron James. In the process, they were unwilling or unable to give Dean Wade a financial commitment.

“I kind of thought I’d probably just come back,” Wade said after playing his first game in Cleveland this season. “Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

Perhaps the Cavs would have elected to move on from Wade either way. He had run his course in Cleveland, and the Cavs clearly wanted to find an upgrade at small forward. That’s certainly part of the equation.

But it also seems possible that Cleveland was holding out for LeBron — and Wade leaving was a product of that waiting game.

Regardless of how it happened, Wade says he’s happy with the end result.

“Philly’s awesome, this team is always great, high-character people,” said Wade. “It’s weird going to a new place with me, like 1,000 new faces and stuff. But after a couple of weeks, it gets a lot easier. So I’m pretty happy with my decision.”

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Wade played seven seasons with the Cavaliers, going from an undrafted prospect in 2019 to a starter in the playoffs. This was his first time entering Rocket Arena as an enemy.

“It was weird; emotions were high, and it was pretty hard to stay focused,” said Wade. “But it was good. I was happy to see everybody.”

The Cavs leaned on Wade for his defense throughout the last seven seasons. But his progression from a fringe NBA player to a legitimate rotational piece is worth remembering. He’s a developmental success story that helped bolster the Cavs for nearly a decade.

“Above all, you loved the person, loved the family; they’re just incredible,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said of Wade. “Great for our culture, obviously the player, he’s a heck of a player, helped us a lot even before I got here, a major player for the team — happy he landed in a good spot.”

Wade is now playing a similar role in Philly, while the Cavs are hoping Peyton Watson will be everything they’ve needed at small forward. It’s a breakup that has zero hard feelings on either end.