The sad part came after the intermission when Indiana rallied from a 17 point deficit to shock the Cavaliers 92-90 and give the Pacers a 2-1 lead in the series.
LeBron James led Cleveland with 28 points with Kevin Love adding 19 more in the loss.
Game four in Indianapolis is Sunday night.
I'll try to have coverage, but as I am on the road, I'm not sure when I'll be able to watch the game or not...
Swashbucklings
1) Just mind-numbingly awful in the second half.
I cannot even really wrap my mind around how bad- 12 points in the third quarter?
Really? Are you bleeping kidding me?
12 lousy points when even an average quarter would have put their foot on the Pacers throat and finished them off?
Geez.
2) I was talking to my buddy, Fred Landucci, on my way to Frederick last night and was talking about the then-upcoming game and we talked about Kevin Love.
I made the statement that Love might be better suited to be the best player on an average to bad team because he needs to be the focus of the offense, in Cleveland he is not and without being that focus, his game can be almost passive.
3) Kevin Love did finish with 19 points, but took only two shots in the second half, one of them being a desperation three-pointer that he nailed in the final seconds of the game.
Now, who do you blame for the team's second-leading scorer going AWOL to that degree?
Love can be given his share of the blame, but some of this has to go on Tyronn Lue for not doing something (anything) to integrate Love into the offense.
4) Bogan Bogdanovic? 30 points? Seven three-pointers?
Ordinarily, I'd say that it isn't your night when that happens, but some of those three's were so wide open, if seemingly out of his range that they could have been considered uncontested.
Bogdanovic's four-point play was essentially hitting a wide-open jumper and being fouled after releasing the ball by a desperate Kyle Korver.
In a seven-game series, occasionally you'll have a player play over his head for an evening or two. but when a player averages 14 points a night, you cannot afford to have him double his average and add a little more to it as well.
5) I know most coaches shorten their bench in the playoffs, but I'm not sure why the Cavaliers are living with Jordan Clarkson's struggles thus far off the bench and not using Cedi Osman, who I would think would bring some athleticism on defense and open up the floor a little more rather than clogging to offense by waiting for a jumper.
You cannot play everyone, but Osman's strengths would play well in changing some tempo in a series that has been mostly played at the Pacers speed.
6) I've written that I like what Kyle Korver brings to the offense as a pure shooter, but on some nights when you can see that either the shots aren't falling or even there at all, I can see sitting Korver down.
Last night Korver scored zero points in twenty minutes, missing all three shots and being a minus defender (and I think I'm being kind there), Korver didn't bring much to the court.
7) I'm just not sure what to think right now.
The Cavaliers are down 2-1, but can make a great case to be up 2-1 and if they win on Sunday night, Cleveland regains home court.
That part I feel not too bad about.
8) However, blowing two huge leads (going 1-1) cannot make you feel great about things and Indiana can make an argument that they could be up 3-0.
There are a few tweaks that Tyronn Lue could make and maybe they would help, but will they make a big enough difference to turn the tide?
I mentioned more time for Cedi Osman, maybe less for Jordan Clarkson and I might try Jose Calderon to move the ball and open up shots for Kyle Korver,Kevin Love etc, but as I mentioned, is that enough?
I just don't know...
No comments:
Post a Comment