With a disappointing Game 1 loss to the Indiana Pacers, it seems the Cleveland Cavaliers need Rodney Hood to step up in the postseason.
Rodney Hood needs to be both the X-factor and a primary scorer for the Cleveland Cavaliers not only in this series but for the entire post-season.
Needless to say, the first game of round one of the 2017-18 playoffs for the Cleveland Cavaliers did not go as expected. The Indiana Pacers were simply the better team, and the Cavs looked as they have too many times this season-again being booed off the court by their home crowd.
LeBron James played by far a game-high 44 minutes. Kevin Love scored just 9 points, Jeff Green dropped a donut and George Hill didn’t even play 20 minutes.
To add-on, Rodney Hood, who had the best plus/minus out of everyone in the starting lineup, (-6), only saw the court for a mere 21 minutes. In those 21 minutes, Hood managed to score 9 points on 4-for-8 shooting and 1-for-4 from three.
Hood is one of the more dynamic scorers on the Cavaliers roster. Throughout the regular season, Hood averaged 14.7 points, shooting 42.9% from the field and 38.1% from three-point range.
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During LeBron’s second tenure with the Cavaliers, the Cavs always had two go-to scorers that played alongside LeBron. Obviously one of them is Love. The other player was Kyrie Irving.
Before this season, the Cavs could count on someone other than LeBron and Love to put the ball in the basket consistently. This year, there hasn’t been anyone that replicates or even closely mimics the scoring ability that Kyrie possessed. That’s hurt the Cavaliers quite a bit.
While he’s no Kyrie, Hood has the ability to score the ball at a high level.
He’s a very good driver, a knockdown mid-range shooter, and a three-point marksman. Hood is capable of being the “Kyrie Irving”, if you will, for the current Cleveland Cavaliers.
Not only is he capable, but that’s what he needs to be. In order for the Cavaliers to succeed in the playoffs, Hood has to be a go-to scorer for this team.
In Utah, Hood averaged a career-high 16.8 points per game. While Hood’s time in Cleveland hasn’t been filled with efficient scoring, he still can be a dynamic scorer.
Offensively, you can count on LeBron, you can count on Love, but there needs to be another player this team can give the ball to and say, “go get us one”.
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That player has to be Hood.