This season, we are giving out suggestions for New Year’s Resolutions of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Personally, I’d like to see more ball movement in the clutch.
After 30 games, Cleveland is currently tied for 10th place in assists league-wide. Very good but not great. If the team passed the ball more often during clutch situations, the Cavs could leapfrog the next three to four teams ahead of them in assists.
As you can see from the graphic below, LeBron James has been number one this season in fourth quarter scoring and field goals, second in assists, and fourth in free throw attempts. The stats shown, however, were compiled before the December 23 game versus the New York Knicks.
Screenshot taken from TV coverage
While this may seem to be a positive for James and the Cavs, it actually tells us that he has the ball in his hands way too much of the time in the fourth quarter. In fact, he has had to bail the team out many times on his own. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t.
Coach David Blatt has the team passing the ball well on offense during the first three quarters but when crunch time rolls around, it’s almost as if the strategy changes.
Too many times during the last five minutes of a close game, the Cavs just let LeBron go one-on-one and let him drive, take a three-pointer, or pass the ball when he’s double-teamed. Though this seems to work well since James often produces, it actually makes the offense too predictable.
Take for example the very close games against Golden State (December 25) and Phoenix (December 28) recently. LeBron had the ball in his hands about 70-80% of the time when it was their turn on offense during clutch situations.
A team like the Phoenix Suns shouldn’t be giving the team too many problems, yet there were the Cavs, struggling to make it out alive against a 12-23 team. Though Kyrie Irving was still working his way into game shape, I actually felt good when the ball was in his hands in the final play asJames was very sloppy on offense during that game.
Kyrie made a three to extend the Cavs’ precarious one-point lead to four with 21.9 seconds left in the fourth, giving them the cushion they needed to put the game away 101-97.
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My wish for the Cavs is that they decide to work the ball around to give them the best shot available. They have enough good ball handlers aside from LeBron in Irving, Matthew Dellavedova, and Mo Williams, and more than capable shooters in J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Irving, and Kevin Love.
Instead of dribbling the ball until the last few seconds in the shot clock, I hope to see more ball movement where the ball goes to the best option available for a shot. And even if the team still wants LeBron to take a shot, they can set up a play where he gets the ball with the best opportunity to score.
If there was a Cavs New Year’s Resolution that would give the team more wins during close games, this would be one of the best ones.