Toronto Raptors vs Cleveland Cavaliers - Game 2 - Full Highlights | May 19, 2016 | 2016 NBA Playoffs
TORONTO -- How much of LeBron James is enough?
You can sense Tyronn Lue wrestling with the question as he spoke to the media Sunday. The Cavs coach had looked at the tape of his team"s 99-84 loss to Toronto in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Before that game, the Cavs had rolled to 10 consecutive playoff victories. In most games, the ball was shared. Future Hall of Famer James was not even the leading scorer in the postseason. Kyrie Irving held that distinction.
But Saturday night, the Cavs offense was stalled, especially in the second half.
Irving was stuck in one of his old, destructive ruts. His answer to missing shots was to take even more shots -- many of them with a higher degree of difficulty than the ones he was missing.
And he also kept dribbling...
And dribbling...
And dribbling...
And Lue watched it all, reacting like a rookie head coach for perhaps the first time in this postseason.
Irving fired up 19 shots, making three.
That"s no misprint, it"s an embarrassing 3-of-19 from the field for 13 of the ugliest points in NBA playoff history.
That"s because Irving had only one assist.
POINT GUARD OR ATTACK GUARD?
Irving has the title of point guard, but he really should be called "the attack guard."
That"s because Lue has defined Irving"s role as take the ball and attack the defense. Sprint up the court in a straight line to the rim, dare the defense to stop you.
From the moment he replaced David Blatt as head coach, Lue pushed and pleaded with the Cavs to play at a faster pace. Irving could be the leader.
"No one can stop him 1-on-1," Lue said the other day.
He was talking about Irving in fast-break situations, driving to rim.
But the reason for having Irving as the attack guard is to stop some of what we watched Saturday: the excessive dribbling that led to four of his teammates standing and watching.
That was some of the old Irving, the Irving that makes his teammates worse instead of better.
MUST BE DECISIVE
Lue is the coach. He should have called a timeout, then called plays for James to be the trigger man with the ball.
"I should have put the ball in LeBron"s hands a little more and let him create,"Lue told the media. "So that was more on me."
Good for the 39-year-old coach. Admitting mistakes will help his players respect him, something they do already.
If the Cavs have a point man, it"s James. He leads the team in assists. He is one of the greatest passers in NBA history.
In Lue"s offense, he has been more active -- either driving to the rim or passing the ball rather than aimlessly dribbling as the 24-second clock ticks down.
James took one shot in the fourth quarter.
That"s right, just one. He missed it. He had two points on two free throws.
Overall, James had a good game, 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting. He led the Cavs with eight rebounds and five assists.
Along with J.R. Smith (22 points, 7-of-16 shooting), James was the only one who consistently made a positive impact on the offense.
Kevin Love and Irving shot a combined 4-of-28 for 16 points.
ABOUT BALL MOVEMENT
In the playoffs, the Cavs have passed the ball better than at any point in the regular season. That"s why there have been so many open 3-point shots.
They came into Saturday night having scored at least 100 points in every playoff game.
But those long jumpers were clanging off the rim for most players in Saturday"s loss.
And Irving was doubling-down on his dribble/dance moves.
That"s how the Cavs scored only 84 points for the night, hitting bottom with a 14-point fourth quarter.
James was not part of what was happening in the fourth quarter.
"I have to do a better job of putting them in positions to isolate and be productive," admitted Lue.
He meant that when James has the ball in the low post, he either scores or draws multiple defenders. When the defense swarms him, he passes to teammates for open shots.
"With Kyrie kind of setting the offense ... the ball has kind of been taken out of my hands a little bit," said James. "I"m OK with that. But there is a point in time where some of the guys are not going (scoring). Maybe let me see if I can get it going."
It sounded as if Lue and James had already talked about this before they faced the media.
The Cavs have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series with Game 4 tonight. Let"s watch to see how they handle the ball on offense -- who has it.
Lue wisely has worked for the Cavs not to be overly dependent on James, but they can"t have any more games where they ignore him in crucial situations as they did Saturday night.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2016/05/cleveland_cavaliers_cant_forgo.html
No comments:
Post a Comment