Cleveland Cavaliers Big 3 Starting To Click

After numerous attempts of trying to find the right formula, it seems like the Cleveland Cavaliers and new head coach Tyronn Lue have finally figured out the best way to maximize the impact of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

The day was August the 23^rd, 2014 and the expectations for the Cavaliers had taken a dramatic spike upwards. The team had just acquired Love; the superstar power forward from the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Cavs had established their own version of the Big Three, with Love joining LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

Many experts and pundits speculated how damaging, effective and fun this trio would be but to be brutally honest, it has been a shaky year and a half for the Big Three. There have been more questions about Love’s fit, Irving’s willingness to defer rather then find his own shot and James’ patience level, as neither Love or Irving had never any playoff experience prior to last season. These questions overshadowed the immense amount of basketball talent Cleveland had together on the court and nobody could really appreciate and realize how good this Cavs team could be.

Now though, these questions are being answered and the answers deserve an A++ grade.

Previous head coach David Blatt could never quite find the magic formula to get James, Irving and Love working together on the same page but Lue has seemingly sorted it all out in just a week on the job. Turns out, it was a pretty simple thing to work out, as it all boiled down getting the players the ball in positions where they’re most comfortable.

The Cavs two most recent victories, a 117-103 dominating performance over the San Antonio Spurs and their 114-106 triumph over the Detroit Pistons the night before provided the perfect examples of how the Big Three are beginning to click.

Prior to the Pistons game, the Cavs Big Three were yet to score 20+ points each in one game for the entire season. They have now accomplished that feat in two straight contests and it is no coincidence.

In Detroit, the Big Three were almost putting on a teaser performance for what was in store for the Spurs the next night. Against the Pistons, Love top scored with 29 points, Irving followed suit with 28 and James finished with a modest, for him anyway, 20 points on the night.

From the tip against the Pistons, the Big Three all played out the particular roles that Lue has preached for them to do. Lue has stressed to Irving that he needs to be more aggressive and re-find his rhythm after returning from his off-season knee surgery. Irving responded, as he was driving to the rack with a purpose against the Pistons, despite the presence of All-Star Andre Drummond, and finished with a cool 58% shooting percentage on the night. For Irving, despite his terrific outside shooting ability, he is at his best when he is driving to the hole and finishing, with his innate capability to seemingly hit lay-ups at all angles.

Love has been the biggest question mark in terms of fitting in (or out) of the Cavaliers system since arriving in Cleveland but ever since Lue took over the head coaching realm, Love has looked like a considerable more comfortable player. Against the Pistons, Love was receiving the ball in positions where he is the most effective, mainly the elbow and in the low-post area. Love has stressed multiple times over his tenure in Cleveland that he prefers to play inside-out rather then outside-in and the results show. When Love gets touches down low to begin the game, it allows him to be more aggressive throughout the game and it gets him into a better rhythm shooting the outside jumper and this was evident via his 5-of-7 three-point shooting against the Pistons.

Lue has mentioned that he wanted James to take up more of a facilitator role, as he explained to Chris Fedor of cleveland.com, “I want the ball in LeBron’s hands to facilitate and create for other guys because he’s 6-foot-8 and he’s a great passer. I think with LeBron’s passing ability we’re able to do a lot of things.” James has answered the call, as he is setting his teammates up early and often, allowing them to get into a rhythm first, before he goes and gets his. Against the Pistons, James had eight assists and is averaging 8.4 dimes since Lue took over.

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So, the Detroit game set the table for how the Big Three will be used in their seemingly new roles under Lue but the San Antonio game displayed how scary Cleveland can be when the Big Three begins eating off that table.

The win against the Spurs was able to exhibit how Lue wants the Big Three to look and play on a nightly basis and boy, did it look good.

The roles were the same as the Pistons game- James was the facilitator early, as he only scored eight points in the first half but he had six assists, as he was getting his teammates involved early and often. Speaking of that first half, it belonged to Love. Once again, he has getting into areas where he is the most comfortable and making the most of it. Love scored 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the first half, as he was tearing the Spurs apart, getting to the elbow and in the post and being aggressive.

It is becoming clear that the Cavaliers are also looking for Love more in these spots and he is demanding the ball in these areas. One of Love’s favorite situations to get the ball is when he moves to the low post on the weak side. From there, the Cavs can move the ball from the strong side to the weak side and then allow Love to go to work. Cleveland went to that many times during the Spurs game and they also did a tremendous job at getting the ball to Love early, which eliminates the defense’s ability to send a double onto Love.

Another positive to come out of this for the Cavaliers is that it gives Love the confidence and rhythm he needs early in the game, to then deal with double teams later on in the match, as seen here.

So, Love is in rhythm and James has set up his teammates. Now the third quarter rolls around and it is James’ turn to take over the ballgame, which he did to a tee against the Spurs.

Everyone is well aware of James’ unmatched strength and power and he used that to perfection to get to the rim and finish against the vaunted Spurs defense, albeit without Tim Duncan. James was 6-of-9 from the field in the third quarter, including four made free throws, as his 16 points kept the Spurs astray. James has the ability to flip the switch and change the game whenever he likes, so it is more important to get Love, a confidence player, to get going early, which then allows James to still score when Cleveland needs him to in the second half.

At the end of the third quarter, Irving was having a fairly mediocre performance, as he only had 11 points. They don’t call him ‘Mr 4^th Quarter’ for no reason though, as Irving was aggressive at the beginning of the final period, which buried any hope of a San Antonio comeback.

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In the fourth, Irving had 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including no three-point attempts, which showed everyone how he is responding to Lue and is being aggressive in attacking the basket, rather then settling for jumpers. As aforementioned, Irving can hit lay-ups at any and all angles, as he is undoubtedly the NBA’s best guard finisher at the rim.

So, this is how Lue envisions the Cavs Big Three to be moving forward and it should sent fear throughout the NBA. When Love gets going early, James facilitates and takes over games when he chooses and Irving being the Cavaliers closer, they are as unbeatable as any team in this league.