Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 Adjustments For Game 2 vs. Warriors
4. More Channing
Heading into the series, most people pegged Channing Frye as a potential X-factor for the Cavs, just as he’d been throughout Cleveland’s breezy playoff trip through the Eastern Conference.
Frye had been brutalizing other team’s benches in his stretch-5 role this postseason, averaging 8.6 points in just 15.7 minutes per game on 62.1 percent shooting from the field and a blistering 57.8 percent from three-point range.
Channing Frye is posting the best playoff TS% of all time for players who took at least 50 shots... pic.twitter.com/R2Fo36PfaR
— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) June 2, 2016
Cleveland even developed something of a secret weapon lineup bridging the first and second quarters, with their Matthew Dellavedova-Shumpert-LeBron-Richard Jefferson-Frye lineup scoring an insane 133 points per 100 possessions in 70 minutes through the first three playoff rounds.
In Game 1, Frye logged a grand total of seven minutes, finishing the game with two points on 0-for-1 shooting. The secret weapon lineup was only deployed for one minute, with Lue abandoning it as soon as Steve Kerr countered with a small-ball lineup.
Warriors’ small lineups negated Lue’s use of Channing Frye, at least in this game. Cavs 7-21 from 3
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) June 3, 2016
There was always a good chance small-ball was going to hurt Frye’s value in a series like this, since there wouldn’t have been anyone he could guard in a Shaun Livingston-Leandro Barbosa-Andre Igudoala-Harrison Barnes–Draymond Green lineup.
But with the way that lineup decimated Cleveland’s shorter defenders anyway, Lue has got to give Frye more run time in Game 2 and hope that the floor spacing and three-point shooting he provides gives the Cavs a better chance of matching the Dubs point-for-point.
Next: No. 3