Future: The same player, James, and the same team, the Cavaliers, back in the same building, Staples Center, three days later to play the Clippers in a Sunday matinee that will deal with where Cleveland is going.
The Cavaliers are into the final 18 games of the regular season, they're starting a back-to-back as the close to a four-game Western swing, there have been some concerning results since the All-Star break, and so the time has come to get locked into playoff mode. Because getting eliminated in the postseason would be the ultimate in posterity.
Let other people stroll Kobe-LeBron memory lane. James himself doesn't have the time anymore, not with the season making a turn into an important stage. (And besides, he said the Feb. 10 game in Cleveland had more emotional pull with the crowd realizing the value of Bryant's last visit, unlike Thursday at Staples without any finality except for the opponent and the glamorous individual matchup that lacked the true rivalry of a Finals meeting.)
"I'm zeroed in on what it means to help our team play great basketball going into the last stretch of the season," James said.
Getting a feel for exactly where the Cavaliers are would help. In the big-picture update, they had a better winning percentage under David Blatt (.732) when he was fired in January than in the subsequent 23 games under replacement Tyronn Lue (.696), although there is also the assessment that Lue is connecting much better with the locker room than Blatt did, an emotional bridge that could prove beneficial in the playoffs. More in the moment, the Cavs have only won five of their last eight and are 2-2 in the same stretch against teams that would be in the playoffs if the regular season ended today. The last outing against a team with a winning record was a home loss to the Grizzlies with Memphis on the second night of a back-to-back while Cleveland had the day before off at home, followed by victories over the lottery-bound Kings and the lottery-bound Lakers.
That makes the next week or a worthwhile progress report. The Clippers, a challenge, then the Jazz on Monday as the fourth game in six nights and the end of the Western swing, then back home to play the Mavericks, followed by the quick turnaround of another trip to play the Magic and Heat.
That gets the Cavaliers to March 21 and the soft spot in the schedule of the Nuggets, Bucks, Nets, Knicks, Rockets and Nets again. That's a lot of opponents that could be down to playing out the schedule.
"We just want to continue to play well," James said. "We've had some ups and downs, but for the most part for the season we've played some really good basketball. We have an opportunity. We're going to be on the road together for a week and we've got four games so it's a time for us to continue to build. We definitely want to use this as an opportunity to do that, and we started off the right way."
Meaning the wins over the Kings and Lakers as Lue said he wanted to see playoff-level performances from his team.
"That would be nice," he said. "I haven't really thought about it, but usually like the last 15 games you start trying to focus in and locking down on get your stuff, your rotation set, and everything set for the playoffs. So around now and the last 15."
Close enough. The Cavaliers are into the last 18, will be at 16 when the trip ends after the test of the Clippers and a back-to-back, and then at 13 following the Florida stops. Coming off a loss to the Grizzlies and wins over vastly inferior opponents in Sacramento and Los Angeles, a Sunday in March takes on added importance looking toward the playoff future. That would be their time to make new memories.
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