CLEVELAND: LeBron James is feeling the gravity of the situation facing the Cavaliers. Dealing with an 0-2 deficit and the possibility of playing without one of their three stars, James on Tuesday placed the Cavs’ championship fate on the outcome of Wednesday’s Game 3 against the Golden State Warriors.
“It’s a must-win for us,” James said Tuesday. “We can’t afford to go down 3-0 to any team, especially a team that’s 73-9 in the regular season and playing the type of basketball they’re playing. So it’s a do-or-die game for us and we understand that.”
No NBA team has ever rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win a series and James clearly doesn’t like the Cavs’ odds of being the first. How they plan on avoiding that, after getting blown out by 48 points through the first two games of this NBA Finals, remains to be seen. But coach Tyronn Lue might have tipped his hand after Game 2 when he talked about needing to play tougher and more physical.
The Cavs beat the Warriors twice last year in the NBA Finals despite a depleted roster by pounding them physically.
Kevin Love remains in the concussion protocol and a decision on his availability for Game 3 won’t be made until Wednesday. He did not practice on Tuesday.
“He’s feeling better,” Lue said. “We won’t know until tomorrow.”
Love’s absence might allow the Cavs to return to a more physical style of defense that worked so well last year — if Lue chooses to play it that way.
He started Timofey Mozgov for the fourth quarter of Game 2 to see if he could squeeze any production out of a center who not long ago was the anchor of a very good defense, but has failed to duplicate that this season.
Mozgov has been a major disappointment despite Lue’s patience in sticking with him. They finally moved on from him weeks ago, but now might be forced to give him another look.
The Oklahoma City Thunder had great success against the Warriors playing big in the Western Conference finals with Serge Ibaka and Steven Adams, but Tristan Thompson doesn’t have the range of Ibaka and Mozgov isn’t as athletic as Adams.
Still, the Cavs might not have many other options.
“Timo has to be ready,” Lue said when asked specifically about Mozgov. “There is a chance and an opportunity for him to play. We’ve talked about that as a staff.”
Lue acknowledged he has discussed making lineup changes with his staff for Game 3, but declined to reveal what, if anything, that might entail. If Love is forced to sit and Lue isn’t ready to trust Mozgov, he could start Channing Frye at center or go small and shift James to power forward and start either Matthew Dellavedova or Iman Shumpert. Neither Mozgov nor Frye have held much of a role in this series thus far.
Regardless, the Cavs must improve upon a defense that allowed the Warriors open shots throughout Game 2. Of their 81 attempts Sunday night, 43 of the Warriors’ shots came without a defender within 4 feet.
Without Love and Kyrie Irving last year, the Cavs junked things up defensively and pounded on them throughout the series. Warriors center Andrew Bogut called it “East-style basketball,” something perhaps the Cavs need to find again. But that was when Dellavedova was starting at point guard and guarding Steph Curry.
“A lot of things have changed from last year, a lot of different circumstances,” James said. “A lot of different rotations have changed. But if that’s what Coach Lue wants us to do, then we have to follow his game plan. If guys are out there not following the game plan, then he has to sub them out and other guys have to come in and do what he wants to do.”
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.