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About a month ago, Fear the Sword asked Channing Frye about the team's chemistry. He gave a full-throated defense of the relationship he has with teammates. There were no qualifiers, and he really seemed to want to go out of his way to make his point. His response:
"It's a bunch of bullsh*t. It was overblown like crazy. This is, probably, one of the best locker rooms I've ever been in in my career. I think so many things get overblown. I just literally stopped watching ESPN and all that other kind of stuff. It's like 'I'm in the locker room and you guys are making up stuff that doesn't even exist. It's kind of crazy. For us, it just makes us meld together. We laugh about it at times. It brings us together, makes us a better team."
Evidence continues to come in that this was a genuine statement, and that the team really has come together. It's been apparent on the court, where the bench goes nuts at the insane three point shooting. LeBron James is the proud older brother when Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving go through stretches where they lift the Cavs offense. And it's apparent off the court, where Richard Jefferson's snapchat account has become a must-follow. He's under the handle "rjeff24" and if you request him it's a public account.
Last night, he documented the team's dance party, attended by the whole team. Channing Frye posted a picture of the "squad" to his Instagram:
It's easy to get caught up in the championship or bust mindset, and I'll never tell you how to be a fan (or, rather, yell at me if I do). But seeing these guys come together and beat up on Eastern Conference teams has been pretty awesome. For all the noise, these guys get along. It was apparent covering games in the Detroit series. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.