Cavs forward Larry Nance Jr. reveals freelance heartwarming postgame ritual

“Often, whenever I'm headed home, I'll talk to my dad,” Nance Jr. said to Cavs.com.

“My dad watches every single game I play, and we'll go over specific plays, like: I probably should have done this here, that shot felt great - little stuff like that.

“So, between talking to him and listening to music, the ride home is my time to decompress.”

For Nance Jr., listening to his father is undoubtedly a solid foundation for advice. Larry Nance Sr. played 14 seasons in the NBA for the Phoenix Suns and the Cavs between 1981 and 1994, becoming a three-time NBA All-Star in the process.

And once Nance Jr. has finished chatting with his father, whether he has won or lost, the trials, tribulations, stresses, and struggles disappear.

“None, zero,” Nance Jr. said.

“It took a long time to get this way, but it's very much a separation of church and state. For me, when I get home, basketball – my frustrations or whatever I have at the gym, they don't come home with me.”

But what does come home with the 32-year-old Akron native is the ability to not go straight to bed. Too wired from the flight back or the game he has just endured, Nance Jr. can’t shut his eyes and let his head hit the pillow right away.

“For me, I have a hard time going to bed right away,” he admits.

“So, when I get home, it's at least a few hours, so I’ve got to watch TV or watch postgame recap of the games around the league or whatever it is. Find a movie. I have an hour-and-a-half, two hours where I'm still wired.

“I’ll have to put on my blue glasses to help me sleep; otherwise, you’ll just stay up. Especially being on the road. You go play a game, you fly into a city, and it's not like we're quiet on the plane.

“So, we're still up from that, and then you get into a hotel around 1:30 or two o’clock in the morning, and it's like, man, I need a few hours of mellow time.

But once he’s ready to hit the sack, he wakes up and gets ready to do it all again.