ATLANTA: One day after the greatest 3-point shooting performance in NBA history, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue was forced to play some defense.
Lue was critical of Charles Barkley’s postgame comments Wednesday and defended his team’s wish to continue shooting 3s long after the game had been decided.
The Cavs set an NBA record by making 25 3-pointers in Wednesday’s 123-98 win against the Atlanta Hawks and now lead their best-of-seven series 2-0. Game 3 is Friday at Atlanta.
“That’s something the players felt like was in their grasp and they wanted to go for it,” Lue said Thursday about chasing the record in a blowout. “I don’t see anything wrong with it. We didn’t do anything malicious. I don’t think we did anything to rub it in their face. They felt good on the floor and wanted to go for the record.”
Lue emptied his bench in the fourth quarter and the Cavs spent the game’s last 7:20 chasing the mark. Lue acknowledged after the game he had to call a timeout in the third quarter after he saw too many questionable shots, but otherwise pulled all of his starters by late in the third quarter. Dahntay Jones, Mo Williams and Iman Shumpert made the 3-pointers in the fourth quarter that gave the Cavs the record.
Still, the outspoken Barkley said on the TNT postgame show the Hawks should “take somebody out” on the Cavaliers after that type of shooting performance. When co-host and former Cavalier Shaquille O’Neal chided Barkley by telling him he can’t say stuff like that on national television, Barkley continued.
“Yes I can. You’re not trying to hurt them, but you’ve got to take somebody out,” Barkley repeated. “When a team is just embarrassing you shooting 3s when the game is way over just trying to set a record … if you keep shooting 3s, I’ve got to take you down one time really hard.”
Lue disagreed with Barkley.
“I don’t think there’s any place in our game to take someone out because they’re playing well,” Lue said. “I think you can get yourself to play harder to stop a team from playing well, but when it gets to the point of trying to hurt guys or take guys out, that’s just not right. … I don’t believe in taking guys out or trying to hurt guys because a team is playing well.”
This is the second time in this postseason the Cavs set a record for most 3-pointers made in postseason a game. They made 20 in a Game 2 win over the Detroit Pistons in the first round, matching a mark held by a number of other teams, including the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors broke the mark a couple of nights later when they made 21 in a first-round victory against the Houston Rockets. Now the Cavaliers have emphatically reclaimed the mark by making more 3s in any game in history — postseason or regular season. They surpassed the previous mark of 23 set by the 2009 Orlando Magic and tied by the 2014 Houston Rockets.
“It’s on them now,” Kevin Love joked to the Beacon Journal, referring to the Warriors. “It’s not like we’re going out there saying, ‘We’ve got to beat them on what they’re doing’ or play their type of game. We’re just going out there and playing our game.”
The Cavs are averaging 16.2 3-pointers per game in this postseason, easily the most of any team in the league after they averaged 10.7 per game in the regular season.
LeBron James, however, insists the Cavs aren’t a 3-point shooting team despite the gaudy numbers.
“We’re not a 3-point shooting team. We don’t want to be labeled that,” James said. “We’re a well-balanced team that’s capable of making 3s. … Obviously we’ve got guys that can knock down shots from the perimeter. It’s been key to our success but we have to continue to understand that we have to be very balanced offensively.”
James likened the Cavs to a football team that can both run and pass. He likes that a number of the Cavs’ 3-point looks have come after dribble penetration and wants the Cavs to keep attacking the paint. So far, it’s working. They’ve won all six of their postseason games to build a longer winning streak than they did at any point during the season with Lue as head coach.
“It just means that guys have bought into what we’re trying to do,” Lue said. “I think right now we’re playing the way we want to play on offense and on the defensive end.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.