Why Enjoying Thanksgiving, Giving Back Means So Much To Cavs

After a long road trip on the West Coast and a stretch of four games in six days, the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to enjoy this Thanksgiving holiday a little extra.

"Take some time tomorrow to get away from the game and be thankful for everything we have," Georges Niang said after last night's loss to the Miami Heat. "Allow everyone to be with their families and then get back to the drawing board and work on continuing to play good basketball like we were previous to tonight.”

"Go get some rest the next few days and enjoy Thanksgiving and get back to it,” Evan Mobley added.

The Cavs aren't only using this special time to recharge. They're also active in giving back. For example, last Friday after the Detroit Pistons win, Jarrett Allen hosted and greeted families from his Meals and Math initiative.

"It's always special," Allen said. "I couldn't do as grand as I did last year — bring 'em to the store and actually have 'em shop — but the little things I do go a long way. So it was good just to get 'em here, give' em some goodie bags, help them with Thanksgiving shopping hopefully and hopefully made their week with that.

Allen was asked about why being active in the community means so much around this time.

"You don't care about selfish people too much," Allen said. "I think we all could say that when you give a lot for everybody, it brings love and joy around, and it brings everybody together."

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In addition to Allen's program, two weeks ago, the Cavs served Thanksgiving meals to 150 people from Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Project ACT. Mobley, Tristan Thompson and Isaac Okoro and members of the organization's senior leadership participated.

"I think this time of year is a great time of year. I think [with] all the news and coverage, these types of things should be highlighted even more," Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.

"Our guys in this league do a phenomenal job of giving back and doing positive things in their communities, other communities, and I don't think it gets noticed as much as we talk about how many threes they make or who got dunked on, whatever it may be. I do think it's something worthy of spending more time focusing on."

As a parent, Bickerstaff feels that showing your children there's more to life than what impacts them directly is important.

"You want your kids to grow up to be good human beings and selfless human beings and care about the greater good more than they do themselves," Bickerstaff said. "Without our community, without our fan base, we're not here and we're not in the positions to have the lives that we have, that we've been blessed with. I think people who are in the spotlight or in the public eye do have a responsibility to be role models and to be positive role models. I think it's our responsibility to show people how people should treat one another. I think that's a small thing that's missed.

"None of us got to this position that we're in on our own. So I think it's extremely important that you do give back because you pass it along, somebody else passes it along and now we're helping so many more people."

It'll be back to work on Friday for the Cavs, but until then, they're going to enjoy some turkey and wholesome quality time with their loved ones.

"Just sitting around with people I care about and eating a good meal. I’ve never not enjoyed a good meal," Niang said with a smirk. "I think Thanksgiving is an important holiday. We are truly blessed to play a game we all picked up for joy and now we get paid for it and get to travel all over the world. I’m super thankful for that and can’t wait to enjoy a good meal with my people.”