After the Cleveland Cavaliers blew out the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night, LeBron James admitted that a tweet he sent the previous day was directed toward Kevin Love.
The tweet LeBron sent, which you can see here, used the exact same “fit in” and “fit out” language that Love used back in October while talking about the Cavs’ team chemistry. Before the game, James accused reporters of reading into his tweet too much.
“It wasn’t even about this team. It was more about people in general,” he said. “It was just a general thought that I had, and obviously, whatever thought I had people try to encrypt it and Da Vinci Code it and all that stuff. It’s just a general thought. That’s all that is.”
But after the win, LeBron was in more of an honest mood.
“It’s not a coincidence, man,” he conceded with a smile, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com.
Perhaps LeBron felt his tweet motivated Love, who had one of his best performances of the season after scoring just five points in two of Cleveland’s previous three games. Love scored a season-high 32 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He went 7-for-8 from beyond the arc, where he is shooting just 35 percent on the season.
Just last week, LeBron said he felt Love was passing up shots due to a lack of confidence. Love didn’t pass any up on Sunday, and he credited James for getting him the ball.
“Whether I’m running the floor and ducking in or he’s calling a play for me to get it inside or out. He’s one of the best in the league at setting guys up,” Love said. “So when I’m on the other end of that and it’s a crisp pass coming from him, it’s going to be a good look.”
Despite all the drama coming out of Cleveland over the course of the season, the Cavs have won 13 of their last 14 games and are rapidly rising up the Eastern Conference standings. If an immature subtweet was needed to get Love going, LeBron made the right decision.
