FanPost

What the Cavs vs Pacers Series Taught Us

LBJ Takeover

Let’s start with the most obvious takeaway from the series, LeBron FREAKIN James is almost unstoppable when he is in the zone. He is also very essential to the Cavs winning basketball games (no duh). In the 4 Cavs wins in the series LeBron averaged almost 42!! points a game. And when he is not scoring he is the only player on the team that can really get shots for other players. The Pacers had no answer for LeBron in Game 7. In the first half, they let him be the one to beat them. Throwing no double teams his way, and forcing him to make layups (not very hard when you’re the best player in the NBA). Then in the second half, they forced the ball out of LeBron’s hands and made him get others involved. It is no surprise that this strategy worked for the Pacers, because most of the other players looked lost for most of the series. For the Cavs to have any chance of beating the Raptors, Lebron will need to continue is other-worldly play, but some other players are going to have to step up as well.

Love Back in the Air?

If you watched any of the series vs the Pacers, you likely noticed that Kevin Love played, well downright horrendous. Aside from a couple very well-timed shots in Game 7. The Cavs second All-Star played like he had never seen a basketball in his life. Shooting only 34% from the field, and 28% on two-point shots, KLove is going to have to get back in a groove for the Cavs to be a threat to any team. Luckily, Love has played very well against the Raptors this season, the Raptors do not have bigs that play nearly as physical as Thaddeus Young played against Love in the Pacers series. Hopefully, this means that Kevin will look more comfortable and give the Cavaliers the second option to LeBron that they so desperately need.

Ty Lue is Lost

This series was the 1st time in LBJ’s career that he won a playoff series without one other player on his team scoring 20+ points in a single game. For a team which as much scoring talent as the Cavs have, that is unacceptable. It all starts with the coach Ty Lue, when Ty Lue isn’t found open-mouth breathing on the sideline, he can be seen mismanaging the Cavs rotations. Before I start ripping into Ty Lue, I will say that his role players played like trash in the series and his decision to start TT in Game 7 payed off huge dividends. That being said, he seems to refuse to make any other adjustments to the team. Game 7 showed that Tristan Kardashian probably should’ve played before Game 7. Even in Game 7, he didn’t play most of the second half, despite having a near double-double in the first half. As someone that hates TT, if I’m willing to play the man then Ty Lue should be too. Indiana was extremely physical the whole series and TT is one of the only physical players on the team. He played well in Game 4, but then didn’t even play in the second half of Game 4 or any of Game 5, so what the hell was Ty Lue watching.

I already talked about how much Love struggled in the series. Apparently, Ty Lue couldn’t grasp that either. I’m certainly not saying that Love should’ve been benched, but continuously throwing the ball to Love in the post and watching him miss post hooks is insane. Love shot 41% on 3s in the series, running more plays for jump shots might have been a little more useful.

I could talk about Ty Lue’s lackluster coaching all day, but there is one major problem that the Cavs have had since LBJ returned in 2014. They make pick and rolls look impossible to guard. They simply give the other team the switch they desired, which results in guys like Love or Tristan guarding Oladipo or Collison 30 feet from the basket. Despite winning the series, the Cavs made Oladipo look like Russell Westbrook. Oladipo is a great player, but he is not nearly as good as the Cavs made him look. These are the kinds of minor adjustments that a competent coach would likely make in a playoff series. The lack of adjustments, poor use of the rotation, and being quoted as saying "he didn’t know when the game [Game 6], got out of hand, it all went too fast for me." Makes me think that even if LeBron stays, Lue might not be the coach next season.

With all that said, Go Cavs. I predict they beat the Raptors in 6 to head to the ECF. #WhateverItTakes

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