CLEVELAND: Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue admitted that at least one of his players scratched his head at the team’s game plan Monday night in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals.
“Kyrie [Irving] came to the bench. Whenever he does this [scratching his head with both hands], that means something’s wrong,” Lue said after practice Tuesday morning.
The dilemma facing the Cavs is that the effort needed to contain Atlanta Hawks sharpshooter Kyle Korver inevitably will leave another player open.
Guard Dennis Schroder took advantage of that Monday, coming off the bench to torch the Cavs for 27 points, including five 3-pointers, in the Cavs’ 104-93 victory at Quicken Loans Arena.
“And he’s like looking at me and he’s like, ‘Are we still going to keep going under [the screens] with Schroder?’ ” Lue said of Irving. “I was like, ‘Let’s give it one more try.’ Then we adjusted and I thought the guys did a great job of adjusting and we took care of the problem in the situation and it’s a tribute to those guys.”
Point guard Matthew Dellavedova said following the game plan against the Hawks isn’t difficult.
“You gotta stick with the game plan and hope that the percentages will play out ... when you have a game plan like that to give up something to take away a lot of other things,” he said. “... So it’s definitely a balancing act with something like that. But there’s things we can do better to make those shots tough on him.”
What the Cavs got out of the effort was essentially nullifying Korver’s presence on the floor. Korver, who hit 40 percent of his 3-point attempts in the regular season, got off one shot in the game and that didn’t come until the third quarter.
“I just told the team today, if we can limit Korver to one shot, that’s big for us,” Lue, who celebrated his 39th birthday on Tuesday, said. “It was kind of the same thing [against the Detroit Pistons] in the first series. I think we trapped the basketball with [Andre] Drummond and [Reggie] Jackson, and we’re leaving guys open.”
In that series, the Cavs took away Detroit’s pick-and-roll offense, which limited Drummond and forced the Pistons out of the paint.
“[The Pistons] knew what we were playing for and what we were trying to do. It was kind of the same thing last night,” Lue said. “The kind of competitive part kicks in when guys are scoring and that’s your matchup. But, just for the most part, I thought we did a great job.”
Dellavedova said Lue and the coaching staff’s efforts have the players’ stamp of approval.
“We definitely all believe in the coaching staff and their game plan,” he said. “All the players know the game plan and have watched the film and know what the plan is, and it’s just a matter of executing it.”
No calls
It would be understandable if LeBron James felt like a punching bag Monday night. The playoffs are supposed to be more physical, but officials seemed to miss a few incidental shots James took to the face.
The end result was that James went to the foul line just one time.
Lue said James and the team will have to deal with it.
“I thought he drove the ball, he attacked and he got hit a few times,” Lue said of James, who led the Cavs with 25 points. “He didn’t get the call, but we can’t [harp] on that. We just got to continue to play, continue to be aggressive and continue to attack and I think he’ll get those calls.”
Why the resignation? Part of it could be that James has always been the equivalent of the Six Million Dollar Man in the paint — bigger, stronger and faster.
“He’s aggressive. When he attacks the basket, he’s so strong and athletic and he goes with so much force that a lot of times, guys are bouncing off of him. But still, those are fouls.
“Like I said, we just got to continue to play through it and got to continue to keep attacking and, hopefully, we’ll get those calls.”
George M. Thomas can be reached at gmthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GeorgeThomasABJ.