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Game 5: Cavaliers Big 3 Faces First Must-Win Playoff Game

By Reece Helms

Sep 28, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23), Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) during Cleveland Cavaliers media day at Cleveland Clinic Courts. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 28, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23), Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) during Cleveland Cavaliers media day at Cleveland Clinic Courts. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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Game 5 is a must win for the Cleveland Cavaliers Big 3.

Well that escalated quickly.

After a Game 2 blowout win, many thought the series was over and the Cleveland Cavaliers would sweep the Toronto Raptors.

The Raptors have shocked almost everyone and outplayed the Cavs to tie the series at two games apiece.

What went wrong for Cleveland?

Kevin Love has disappeared, he must have left his basketball talent in America because he sure did not bring it over the border to Toronto.

In Games 3 and 4, Love scored a total of 13 points on 5-23 from the field. Five for twenty-three from the field, that’s unacceptable for a player that is making over $100 million dollars.

Here is the worst part when it comes to Kevin Love: He was on the bench during a close game in the 4th quarter. He was nowhere to be found. Channing Frye was outplaying him, and Coach Lue made the right move to play Frye’s hot-hand rather than the slumping Kevin Love.

Although Kevin Love suffered a mild knee injury late in the game after tripping on the ref’s foot, but Coach Lue said it was a strategy move and had nothing to do with injury.

Other Big 3 member Kyrie Irving had his struggles in Game 3, but he turned things around with a solid Game 4 performance.

In Game 3 Kyrie couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean, shooting 3-19 from the field. To go along with that, he only had one assist and a +/- ratio of -14.

Monday night in Game 3 Irving came to play, scoring 26 points and dishing out six assists.

All of those points by Kyrie were crucial, as no one else came to play other than LeBron James and Channing Frye.

We quickly evaluated how the first two members of the Big 3 performed, but how about LeBron James?

In both games, LeBron had his typical all-around game. While the team got blown out in Game 3, James still put up 24 points, 8 rebounds, and five assists in 39 minutes of play. That’s not a great game by LeBron’s standards, but it’s not bad either.

Monday night in Game 4 LeBron put up better stats, finishing with 29 points, nine rebounds, and six assists on 11-16 shooting from the field. He did all of that in 46 minutes, only resting for two minutes of the game.

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While that is a great stat-line, I am still critical of LeBron and his performance last night.

LeBron James is considered to be the best player in the world, or at least one of the two best players in the world. When it’s clutch time for the Cavs, you want LeBron taking the big shots.

In the last 5:00 of a close game in the 4th quarter in a hostile environment in Toronto, LeBron James only took 1 shot…..one! And in the last three minutes he did not shoot once, that is unacceptable.

Some of the blame has to be placed on head coach Tyronn Lue. So far in the playoffs it’s been fun and games for the Cavs, so it has made Lue look good.

But in Game 4 Tyronn Lue proved himself to be a rookie head coach.

For the first time in all of the playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers are facing adversity. And in the light of that adversity, Coach Lue played LeBron more than usual.

Seems like a great idea, right? What could go wrong playing LBJ 46 minutes?

Well, when it comes to the last 5 minutes of the game, and LeBron has played the entire second-half, fatigue starts to set in.

From my perspective, James looked gassed near the end of the 4th quarter. It was kind of a glimpse of the 2011 NBA Finals, when LeBron disappeared late in games and deferred to his teammates.

Late in the game Tyronn Lue went with a lineup of Kyrie Irving, Matthew Dellavedova, LeBron James, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye.

Up until that point, Cleveland was struggling to attack the basket because of the presence of Bismack Biyombo in the paint.

Since Frye came in, it forced Biyombo to leave the paint to respect Channing Frye’s outside shot.

That move created many layups for the Cavaliers. Richard Jefferson had a few layups down the stretch off of assists from LeBron.  For the first time all game Cleveland was getting easy points near the basket.

Everyone in the Cavaliers organization knows how effective that lineup is, yet Tyronn Lue waited until the 4th quarter to use it effectively.

If you ask me, Tyronn Lue should’ve given LBJ some rest in the 3rd quarter, so he could be fresh for the 4th quarter. He also should have played Channing Frye more and Tristan Thompson less.

Tristan Thompson was so bad in Games 3 and 4, it has raised some questions that the Cavs should consider playing Timofey Mozgov instead.

But here’s the main question going into Game 5:

Is Game 5 a must-win for the Cleveland Cavaliers?

Yes, Game 5 is a must-win for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Why?

We all saw how well the Toronto Raptors play at home, their crowd is so loud and it gets their team going.

The saying “role players play better at home” was in full effect. Although Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan aren’t role players, they both still play better at home.

If the Cavaliers drop Game 5 at home, it would be very tough to go back to Toronto and win Game 6, with the Raptors on the verge of making the NBA Finals.

What will it take for the Cavaliers to win Game 5?

LeBron James will need some help from his teammates.

I’m looking at you Kevin Love, J.R. Smith, and Tristan Thompson.

All 3 of those players didn’t show up in Toronto. The Cavs desperately need production from them if they want to take back control of this series.

While the shooting of Kevin Love and J.R. Smith are important, but Game 5 will come down to whoever wins the battle between Tristan Thompson and Bismack Biyombo.

In Games 1 and 2 combined, Bismack Biyombo had a total of nine rebounds…..NINE! He had 26 rebounds in Game 3 and 14 rebounds in Game 4.

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Now that Biyombo has all the confidence in the world, can he carry that over into Game 5 on the road at Cleveland?

That is the biggest question heading into Game 5. If Biyombo shows up, the Cavaliers are in trouble.

Tristan Thompson is the X-factor for the rest of this series. The Cavs are paying Thompson way too much money to get run off the court by Bismack Biyombo. They must find a way to contain him in Game 5.

It’s nice to have a little adversity during the playoffs. The Cavaliers Big 3 has not faced any adversity together in the post-season up until this point, so let’s see how they respond at home in Game 5.

What do you think? Is Game 5 a must-win for the Cleveland Cavaliers?