Cleveland Cavaliers: 5 Adjustments For Game 2 vs. Warriors
1. Aggressive LeBron
It sounds crazy to say this about a guy who finished one assist shy of a triple-double with 23 points, 12 rebounds and nine dimes, but here it is: LeBron James was not very good in Game 1.
Was he bad? No. But he certainly wasn’t as good as he needs to be for the Cavaliers to have a prayer in a series like this.
In the first quarter, it looked like he was the same LeBron who averaged 35.1 points, 13.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game in last year’s Finals. He started off the game with eight easy points — all at the rim — on 4-of-5 shooting.
Unfortunately, after switching from Harrison Barnes guarding him to Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green, the Dubs wore King James down and limited him to 5-of-16 shooting, 15 points and four turnovers the rest of the way.
Against Iggy and Green, LeBron shot just 2-for-9. Against all other defenders, he was 7-for-12.
It’s not just that Kyrie Irving (22) took more shots than LeBron (21). It’s also a bit disturbing that the Warriors were able to goad him into taking so many jump shots and missing so many looks around the rim.
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Before the Finals, LeBron James has made 583 of his 839 attempts (69.5 percent) from less than five feet away from the basket (regular season and playoffs combined). Outside of five feet? James shot an un-kingly 291-for-828 (35.1 percent).
Suffice it to say the Cavs need LeBron working his way to the rim, even if it’s physically taxing against a team that can throw so many defenders at him.
James almost needs to be superhuman in this series to force Kerr’s hand in switching up the defense, which would open things up for Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and the rest of Cleveland’s perimeter shooters — all while still putting in more effort on the defensive end than we saw in Game 1.
More hoops habit: Golden State Warriors: 5 Adjustments For Game 2
It’s unfair to ask for such an extraterrestrial effort from any player, but if the Cleveland Cavaliers want to steal Game 2 on the road and even up this series, they’ll need a far more aggressive version of LeBron James than we saw in Game 1.