Tyronn Lue Has Cavs Rolling
Is Tyronn Lue getting enough credit for the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Finals Run?
There are three tenants of David Blatt’s offense that took the Big Three completely out of their comfort zones. He and LeBron James, wanted Kyrie Irving to focus on passing more and making the assist. Kyrie believes he’s a better scorer than LeBron, and that’s how he plays the game.
Kevin Love went from being the man and responsible for setting up a lot of his own shots, to needing assists to make anything.
James was playing a lot of isolation basketball on a team with two superstars who were supposedly playmakers, and the team would stand around and watch him score, so he made easy points for himself without them making it easy for him.
Tyronn Lue said he wouldn’t say things would be different, “just better”. Better looks pretty different to me.
He changed the offense in other ways, as he tried to settle on a rotation, and let his players get in shape for the quick pace he wanted them to play at. The acquisition of Channing Frye, and promotion of Tristan Thompson to the starting lineup, allowed them to play quicker, and allowed LeBron to go downhill in transition with more space and another shooter.
The discovery of the “James Gang” lineup (LeBron plus Frye, Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova, and Richard Jefferson), may be a factor of chance more than intuition but the sets that they run out of it and the sharpness with which they execute is all Lue.
Going away from Kyrie leading the bench alone and playing him with Love has challenged opposing defenses and allowed the two to score more while LeBron rests.
Challenging LeBron’s intelligence and ego, as well as complimenting his abilities, without putting him on a talent-based pedestal in Blatt’s starry-eyed style, simply saying LeBron sets the tone have earned him LeBron and the rest of the team’s respect. The confidence he has in Kyrie and Love is clear. He told Love “he’s a bad mother— too” and to play like it. That when he’s aggressive the team is that much harder to beat. He told Kyrie to be aggressive because “no player can stop him one-on-one”.
Under Tyronn Lue, three things are clear:
- Kyrie doesn’t have to make the assist, but shouldn’t be playing like he’s trying to put people under the bus for Shaq
- Love doesn’t need an assist to score, the more aggressive he is the harder the team is to beat and more space there is
- LeBron, still the same playmaker, is more effective and efficient when scoring off assists, and he sets the tone on-the-court that Lue wants him to
He’s kept the whole team in a comfort zone. LeBron is the leader, the playmaker, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. He’s a legend and he plays like LeBron, not like anybody else.
Kyrie is a streetballer in an NBA jersey. One-on-one, he usually gets his shot to fall in.
Kevin Love, is ‘a bad, bad boy’ whether you believe it or not. There’s a reason the Cavaliers remained at the top of the conference when Kyrie was out at the beginning of the season, LeBron wasn’t by himself.
The fast pace has also helped players like Jefferson, Shumpert, and Frye be effective in transition. Defined roles help players like Dellavedova and Thompson.
Personal challenges to be the best defensive player he can possibly be have helped J.R. Smith.
The team changing their defensive scheme to one similar to the one deployed the Miami Heat in their championship years have made each individual Cav more effective defensively.
The traps come up high, Kyrie or J.R. and Thompson or Love have a chance to rip the ball, LeBron has the best chance to pick off the errant pass, and the others usually position themselves and time their jumps well to steal the ball in these situations. The bench doesn’t play with such tactics because the defensive acumen of players such as Dellavedova and Shumpert, and intelligent defense of Frye and Jefferson is combined with terrific play from “1-5” LeBron.
More from King James Gospel
- 3 possible starting lineups for Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023-24
- The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
- 4 players the Cavaliers should pursue in 2024 free agency
- 6 players Cavaliers might replace Jarrett Allen with by the trade deadline
- This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead
Tyronn Lue might not have wanted the job but he’s done an outstanding one. He’s even in the record books for most consecutive playoff wins for a rookie head coach. David Blatt also reached the Finals, and his coaching ability is better than given credit for, but Tyronn Lue has gotten them going. He’s got it right.
Like the Cavaliers resident veteran James Jones said, “Just look at him. Look at how we respond to him. You can tell a lot about a person by the way people respond to them. On this team, guys are laying it on the line.