Game 5 proves Love, Irving hold the key to a Cavs title

The Cleveland Cavaliers returned home for a 116-78 domination of the Toronto Raptors in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, to take a 3-2 series lead, and the play of Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving was a key for the Cavs.

In the 48 hours between Games 4 and 5 of the conference finals, a familiar narrative rose to the surface.

After not scoring a single point in the final 5:28 of the Cavs Game 4 loss to the Raptors, people began questioning whether LeBron James needs to start doing more. Game 4 was a game Cleveland could have easily stolen, and many pointed to James’ passive-aggressive nature in the final quarter as a reason for the Cavaliers fails. It has actually been a theme of the entire playoffs, where James is averaging 23.9 points and 17.6 field goal attempts per game. While those are still tremendous numbers, it represents a decrease from his career playoff averages of 27.9 points and 20.5 field goal attempts per game. Thus, after James couldn’t lead the Cavs to a Game 4 victory, the doubters and critics came calling again.

Those calls for James to start taking over games on the scoring end have been premature however, as the Cavs Game 5 annihilation of the Raptors proved that Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving hold the true key to Cleveland’s playoff success, not James.

Now, this isn’t saying that James’ importance has been minimized. After all, without him, Cleveland wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. He is still the best player in the world, and that isn’t changing anytime soon.

Without Love and Irving firing though, the Cavaliers simply aren’t winning the championship. Last year’s NBA Finals is an example of that, where the duo were injured and James’ burden simply became too much to carry. Similarly, Love and Irving weren’t at the top of their games in Toronto, particular Love, and once again, the Cavaliers couldn’t muster enough scoring to mask yet another disappointing defensive effort.

All of that changed in Game 5, where both Love and Irving came out aggressive from the tip and were the difference makers in Cleveland’s 38-point win. Love top scored with 25 points, going 8-of-10 from the field. This included Love connecting on his first six field goal attempts, before blowing an open dunk at the rim. He scored 19 points to half time, where the game, for all intends and purposes, was finished. Meanwhile, Irving was steady, scoring 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting.

“Kevin is a great guy, a great teammate, and (Game 5) was just a bounce-back for him,” James said, via Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. “He knew he didn’t play his style of basketball or how he wanted to play to help us win in Toronto. He wanted to make a different outcome of it, and he did that tonight. He’s a true professional.”

In Games 3 and 4, Love admitted that he wasn’t as aggressive as he wanted to be. Too often, he would stand around the perimeter and wait, before firing up another missed three-point shot.

This wasn’t the case in Game 5, as Love got busy early and often. On his first touch, Love drove on the outmatched Luis Scola. The drive turned into a post-up opportunity, where Love went straight to the rim to hit the jump hook. After a transition three, Love went straight back at Scola the next chance he had. Driving past him off a pump-fake at the three-point line, Love delivered a pass to James, which resulted in a lay-in. This was the theme of the night, as Love attacked Scola and at times Patrick Patterson, all game long. Whether they resulted in a made shot from Love, a pass to a better shot, a goaltend in one case or free throws, it was the Love the Cavs need.

After a successful Game 5 performance, the Cavaliers reveled they stayed on Love to be active and aggressive offensively.

“I talked to Channing [Frye] (Tuesday) night,” Love said, via Zillgitt. “He basically told me no one’s immune to the NBA playoffs. These things happen. You have to keep fighting through it. In order for us to win, he said I need to be aggressive. I give him credit for staying on me and staying vocal.”

Frye wasn’t the only Cav to encourage Love to keep pushing.

“RJ [Richard Jefferson] talked me after the game, and he said, ‘That’s why we’re on hard on you big fella,’ ” Love said, via Zillgitt. “My teammates expect a lot of me. I expect a lot out of them as well, and I love these guys.”

It’s been a mystery why Love has had constant swings in confidence and play ever since he came to Cleveland. If it takes his teammates to get on him after every bad game, then so be it. The Cavs are such a better and more efficient team when Love is playing with the assertiveness and vigor he was in Game 5, and he will need to bring that same mindset north of the border, if the Cavaliers wish to win the series in Game 6.

While Love’s offensive outburst will be the main story coming out of Game 5, Irving’s all-around game shouldn’t be overlooked.

As aforementioned, Irving was his usual brilliant self on the offensive end. Despite a 3-of-19 stinker in Game 3 of the conference finals, Irving has been terrific in the playoffs, averaging 23.8 points, while shooting 47.8 percent from the field and 45.3 percent from beyond the three-point line.

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Irving providing James with a secondary scoring punch is critical to the Cavaliers success and in the playoffs, Irving has often times been the number one scoring option. This has to continue, and there is no reason why it won’t. Irving takes a huge scoring load off of James’ shoulders.

However, when Kyle Lowry is scoring 35 points on the other end, like he did in Game 4, Irving’s offense is neglected. No good scoring the basketball if you can’t stop the opposition doing the exact same thing.

An adjusted defensive game plan, and an increase in effort and intensity from Irving defensively though in Game 5, showed how truly devastating he can be.

Instead of going under the screen on Lowry in the pick and roll, the Cavs decided to show and thus trap him, forcing the ball out of hands. Like all defensive principles, it sounds good in theory, but unless the players carry it out and execute it, it’ll stand for naught.

Thankfully for the Cavs, Game 5 was one of Irving’s more engaged defensive games. He hounded Lowry all night long and was effective in his hard traps, not giving Lowry any air space. On the night, Lowry scored just 13 points, shooting 5-of-12 from the field. Irving racked up three steals, while having a defensive rating of 88.4 on the game, an astonishing number.

“Going into Game 6, I feel a little bit more prepared than I was going in to Game 3 and 4,” Irving said, via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “Knowing what to expect, what it’s going to be like, what to expect from my teammates and what to demand from them as well, on both ends of the floor, and how to play.”

If Game 5 is anything to go by, then Irving and Love should be ready to put forward similar performances in Toronto on Friday night. If they do, the Cavs will be celebrating another Eastern Conference title, but if the Cavaliers want to be celebrating bigger and better championships, Love and Irving must continue to play with the same aggressiveness they did in Game 5.