The Cleveland Cavaliers grabbed just their second win in the last seven games by topping the Milwaukee Bucks 124-119 on Tuesday night.
An intriguing part of that victory was head coach Tyronn Lue’s decision to go with a small-ball lineup that featured Dwyane Wade, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Kyle Korver, and Jeff Green. It proved to be an effective second unit that helped the Cavaliers pull away in the fourth quarter.
Following the game, Wade voiced much surprise at that unit being able to be effective on both ends of the court, according to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com.
“We never used that group. With guys being out due to injury, we have been using groups that we haven’t. At some point we are going to have to use every group. They was small and we was small was just to get stops and get out and go. Shump brought a lot in that group as well. Whenever Kyle is out there he’s dynamic and everyone has to pay attention to him. Then you got JR, another shooter, so it was fun for me playing with that group and just playing with those guys. They was very aggressive and we was getting stops and push the lead up.”
The Cavaliers had to break out a unique lineup given the current roster situation with big man Tristan Thompson out of the mix for the next few weeks, while also providing both LeBron James and Kevin Love a break on the court before they re-entered near the second half of the fourth quarter.
Cleveland will likely experiment with a few more lineups until they are able to floor an entirely healthy team that features Thompson and Isaiah Thomas back in the mix. In the meantime, expect Lue to possibly try this second unit if another team decides to go with a small-ball lineup in those situations.