Adjustments for the Cavs to make after losing a winnable Game 1

What adjustments should the Cleveland Cavaliers make to win Game 2?

The Cleveland Cavaliers need to make a few adjustments to win Game 2.

While the Cleveland Cavaliers lost by 22 points, the game started off much closer than that and the Cavs were within 5 points after the first quarter and 8 points at the half despite playing poorly while the Warriors played their best. The Cavs shouldn’t leave Game 1 feeling disheartened, they should actually have more confidence about the next meeting.

The question is now, how can the Cavs be better on both ends of the court in their next meeting, considering that Game 1 was a winnable game they let slip away.

The first problem starts with the Cavs’ leader, the head of the snake, LeBron James.

While James’ passing ability is the stuff of legend, he can be overly enamored with facilitating and that was the case in Game 1 as he passed up shot attempt after shot attempt at the rim to get the ball to shooters. The Warriors, having read that part of James’ scouting report and highlighting it, came up with a number of steals in these instances.

In Game 2, James can’t keep passing up shots at the rim to pass the ball out to open shooters. It’s, at best, a 4-point swing in favor of the Warriors.

If James passes up the ball to a shooter when he’s already at the rim, that’s two points that the Cavs could have had that they didn’t. As they telegraph the pass and jump into the passing lane for the steal, they dart back down the other end of the court and either wind up with two or three points in transition.

James had 7 turnovers in the first half and 20 turnovers for the game. The Warriors scored 21 points off of those turnovers. I’m willing to bet that if the Cleveland Cavaliers cut their turnovers down in Game 2, they have a better chance to win.

In addition, Kevin Durant’s length (he’s a true seven-footer) was really a problem for James.

Durant seemed to literally stride past James with ease as he fully unfurled his legs and bounded towards the rim. The Cleveland Cavaliers don’t have many options outside of James needing to be better against Durant, so he needs to be more physical on the defensive end when he guards Durant in Game 2 to make the shots Durant has to take as difficult as possible. He also needs to be quicker laterally, which he’s completely capable of.

Yesterday wasn’t a case of a younger athlete having the older player’s number, it was a case of Durant coming ready to play on offense but James not matching his fire, energy and burst on the other end.

Using Tristan Thompson on Durant should also be an option for the Cavs.

While James (and Richard Jefferson) have a 7-foot-0 wingspan, Thompson has an extra 1.25 inches to contribute to shot contests. He’s also has about an additional inch in height and is also more physical of a defender than James. Durant often leaked out in transition as well.

When shots go up or the ball is turned over, the Cav nearest to Durant needs to be in his jersey before he gets to halfcourt and if that means Kevin Love, who Durant may have guarded for the sole purpose of having an easy person to beat in transition, has to be on the bench so the Cavs have better athletes on the floor, like Iman Shumpert, so be it.

To that point, the Cavs also need to do a better job of calling out who they have on a fast break. Whoever is stopping the ball needs direct his teammates to the Warriors leaking out on the sidelines or trailing.

The Warriors took 106 shots compared to 86 for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the turnover differential helped cause that. The difference in attempted field goals was an issue which exacerbated another problem. Missed shots killed the Cleveland Cavaliers but missed shots from “the other guys” were the biggest culprit when the Cavs needed timely buckets that a championship team needs from its bench.

Kyle Korver can’t go 0-3 from the field (all three-point attempts), Deron Williams can’t go 0-4 from the field and 0-2 from three-point range while looking like a fish out of water rather than the confident veteran who looked like in previous rounds. With Williams coming off the bench as the first sub in Game 1, that meant that the Cavs got a grand sum of 0 field goals from their two biggest offensive weapons on the bench and in the minutes where Durant and Stephen Curry are getting their rest, the Cavs bench needs to step up.

Love was also missing quite a few shots around the rim, only converting 1-4 of his field goal attempts inside the arc.

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Draymond Green may be too strong, and just too good of a defender for Love to handle in the post and though I have confidence Love will do better moving forward, he’s still more of a liability than not on both ends.

The Cavs need to explore using James and Thompson as the power forward-center duo more often. This gives them increased mobility and in James, a stronger post player than Love who needs to play in the post more throughout the series anyways.

It’s a way to get James and Thompson need to be more assertive in the paint on offense and embrace the contact, regardless of the quality of refereeing, so that they can get to the foul line.

James finished the game with 12 free-throw attempts but he passed the ball up so much when he was at the rim he could have had 20 free-throw attempts. Thompson went 0-3 from the field and had 0 free throw attempts.

Setting the tone with their physicality inside should be a key for the Cavs in Game 2.

That extends itself to the rebounding battle as James is more than capable of snagging defensive rebounds over – literally “over” – Warriors, with superior strength and athleticism which will be needed in this series. Thompson, who commands the attention of the Warriors at the same time on offensive boards, could free up opportunities for James to gather the offensive rebounds himself.

In turn, those opportunities for second-chance points could lead to a putback or a pass to the perimeter.

Love shouldn’t have played 34 minutes in Game 1 because, at times, he was getting pushed around inside and while he played solid team defense in the halfcourt, he’s one of the biggest liabilities the Cavs have when it comes to transition defense.

In the minutes that Love is off the court, the Cleveland Cavaliers need to put a perimeter player on the court instead. Playing Shumpert gives the Cavs a player who can defend Curry with physicality and perhaps make it harder on the Chef. I don’t believe Curry would have shot 11-22 from the field and 6-11 from three-point range if Shumpert played a bit more. If J.R. Smith remains at small forward, he has the best physique as a defender when it comes to sticking with Andre Iguodala on the perimeter.

Jefferson and Korver shouldn’t be on the court unless Shaun Livingston is, that way they have a player they could defend. While this may tempt Livingston into pick-and-rolls but in doing that, he’d be leaving himself open to the possibility of a bigger and mobile player switching onto him and obstructing his passing lanes.

The Cavs may want to explore using a lineup featuring Williams, Shumpert, Korver, Jefferson and Love to allow Irving and James to get some rest throughout the game. This lineup opens up driving lanes for Williams, Shumpert and Jefferson to drive through with Warriors’ center having no choice but to guard a player on the perimeter.

When Love is in the post, there’s a chance that he can draw the foul if he doesn’t convert on the shot attempt but Lue should also consider calling plays with off-ball action that frees up the others to cut or curl towards the rim after screens. In turn, the player receiving the ball of the screen can shoot, dunk or pass back to Love who should have space to put up a bunny inside, shoot the short jumper, or gather for a shot and definitely draw the foul.

Now, all of this is just speculation and the adjustments come with no guarantees of a victory. Nonetheless, there are a few adjustments the Cavs can make, a couple of them very simple, to have a much better chance of winning what was a winnable Game 1.

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What do you think the Cleveland Cavaliers should do to win Game 2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.