Tyronn Lue played Mo Williams and Dahntay Jones in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. He should get some credit for those moves.
The Cleveland Cavaliers season was on the line.
LeBron James‘ “legacy” was already being questioned and would have become a firestorm losing another NBA Finals.
Kevin Love‘s future with the team was (is) up in the air.
To a lesser extent, whether Kyrie Irving plays “winning basketball” or just full of empty stats was being discussed.
Even Ty Lue’s future with the Cavs seemed tentative when the team went down 3 – 1.
Even with all of that hanging in the balance, Lue played Mo Williams and Dahntay Jones in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, when the game mattered.
With Matthew Dellavedova struggling, possibly due to injury, Iman Shumpert‘s struggles on offense and a need to get Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith a break, Lue has limited options.
Williams has played in 12 playoff games this year, averaging 5.3 minutes and 1.5 points. Most of that time was during clean up time of blowouts.
Jones has played in 15 playoff games this year, averaging 3.3 minutes and 1.1 points. He was most known for being suspended a game for hitting a low blow.
The two veterans have both been in the league for over a decade. Williams was a vital part of the Cavs early season success while Irving was recovering from his knee injury. Many thought he would play an important role as the offensive part of the bench duo with defensive minded Delly.
Many thought he would play an important role as the offensive part of the bench duo with defensive minded Delly. Instead, he has been an afterthought since Irving’s return.
Jones is even more surprising as a Cavs NBA Finals contributor. Jones was signed on the last day of the NBA Regular Season. Jones’ career has not been remarkable.
The two combined for just over 10 minutes on the floor. They combined for 9 points. Both made an impact late in quarters. Late in the 1st Quarter, Mo took a pass near the baseline and ended the play with a pretty floor from 12 feet to push the Cavs lead to 19 points. He was solid during his short time on the court.
What Mo did was nice, what Jones did was amazing. With the Cavs 22 point lead dwindling down to 11, Jones went on a 5 – 0 run by himself. It started with him blocking a shot, then he hit a jumper And 1 and finished with two more free throws.
He also drew 2 fouls on Draymond Green.
While points are not everything, this tweet may say all we need to know:
Dahntay Jones scored as many points (5) last night as Harrison Barnes scored in Games 5 and 6 combined.
— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) June 17, 2016
Lue’s play of Mo Williams and Dahntay Jones put the Cavs in position to keep their lead and demoralize the Warriors. Jones out “Draymond” the Warriors (minus the groin hit).
While many, including this writer, have questioned some of Lue’s moves (especially in his rotations) last night he proved willing to pull the trigger and his moves worked.
Were you surprised that Ty Lue used Mo and Dahntay when he did last night?