Page 28 - Florida Sentinel 5-8-18

Sports
LeBron James Seems To Believe The Cavs
Cavs Won't Ban Rodney Hood Over Refusal To Enter Game
RODNEY HOOD
Cavaliers swingman Rod- ney Hood apologized to gen- eral manager Koby Altman on Tuesday for declining to enter a 128-93 blowout win over the Toronto Raptors on Monday night.
Hood "feels awful," ac- cording to the source, and he plans to apologize to his teammates and coaching staff in person as soon as they get back together after a couple of days off following a sweep of the Raptors in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Hood reportedly refused to check into Game 4 when Cavs coach Tyronn Lue at- tempted to sub him in during a timeout with 7:38 remain- ing in the fourth quarter and Cleveland up 110-80.
Lue said he met with Hood in the days leading up to Game 4 and had a "good talk" about his role on the team. a team source reported that suspending Hood was "not even a thought."
Eastern Conference – Finals
No. 2 Boston Celtics vs. No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers
Game 1: Sun., May 13, Cavaliers at Celtics, 3:30 p.m., ABC Game 2: Tue., May 15, Cavaliers at Celtics, 8:30 p.m., ESPN Game 3: Sat., May 19, Celtics at Cavaliers, 8:30 p.m., ESPN Game 4: Mon., May 21, Celtics at Cavaliers, 8:30 p.m., ESPN Game 5*: Wed., May 23, Cavaliers at Celtics, 8:30 p.m., ESPN Game 6*: Fri., May 25, Celtics at Cavaliers, 8:30 p.m., ESPN Game 7*: Sun., May 27, Cavaliers at Celtics, 8:30 p.m., ESPN
Western Conference – Finals
No. 1 Houston Rockets vs. No. 2 Golden State Warriors
Game 1: Mon., May 14, Warriors at Rockets, 9 p.m., TNT Game 2: Wed., May 16, Warriors at Rockets, 9 p.m., TNT Game 3: Sun., May 20, Rockets at Warriors, 8 p.m., TNT Game 4: Tue., May 22, Rockets at Warriors, 9 p.m., TNT Game 5*: Thu., May 24, Warriors at Rockets, 9 p.m., TNT Game 6*: Sat., May 26, Rockets at Warriors, 9 p.m., TNT Game 7*: Mon., May 28, Warriors at Rockets, 9 p.m., TNT
Could Win An NBA Championship
LeBron James is not only the most gifted basket- ball player, and perhaps ath- lete, we've ever seen. He's also a hoops savant. Thus, he probably had the same thought we all did for most of this NBA season: this year's Cleveland Cavaliers squad is too inconsistent to compete for a title.
They're clicking, however, at the perfect time. Cleveland swept the East's No. 1 seed, the Toronto Raptors, em- phatically closing out the se- ries with a 128-93 beatdown in Game 4 Monday night.
After the game, LeBron discussed competing for a title—for the first time in months.
"We're excited about being part of the Eastern Conference Finals once again
and having an opportunity to compete for a champi- onship," Bron said. "That is what our goal is, so we are ex- cited about that, we're hum- bled about it, and we're going to continue to get better throughout this week."
Of course, just two weeks ago it looked like the Cavs could fall in the first round to the Indiana Pacers, who pushed the series to seven games. Few expected, even with LeBron's historic dom- inance of Toronto, that Cleve- land would cruise into the Eastern Conference Finals. LeBron's supporting cast stepped up in the second round, but his Herculean per- formance remains the pri- mary reason they've made it this far. He's won over even his harshest critics.
David Fizdale Becomes New York Knicks Head Coach
LEBRON JAMES
Several NBA teams with head-coaching vacancies pur- sued David Fizdale in recent weeks. So why did Fizdale choose the New York Knicks?
The franchise's new head coach said on Tuesday that he couldn't pass up the opportu- nity to try and build a sus- tained winner in New York.
"It's the Knicks. What are we talking about?" Fizdale said with a smile when reflect- ing on his decision to join the club. "To have an opportunity
DAVID FIZDALE
to coach for this franchise (and) to be a part of a rebuild that gets this place back to long-term winning, I couldn't pass that up.”
DeRozan, Lowry Support
Raptors HC Dwane Casey
Amid Firing Rumors
While the outside world may be looking for the Toronto Raptors to move on from Dwane Casey following another disappointing post- season showing, the team's best players have their coach's back.
One day after Toronto's season-ending loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the or- ganization is allegedly leaning toward parting ways with Casey. But that's not a move DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry are pushing for.
"I been with Case 7 years," DeRozan said. "He put the trust in me, he believed in me, he let me be a 21-year-old kid, going out there, play freely. A
DEMAR DEROZAN, DWANE CASEY AND KYLE LOWRY
lot of my success, all of my success, I've gotta credit to Case."
Lowry echoed similar sentiments: "I've been able to be who I've become with him. I always believe in him. I be- lieve he's one of the best coaches out there."
PAGE 14-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2018