The NBA playoffs are here, basketball fans. That means it’s time for coaches to lock in their game plans and focus on one series of games at a time. In Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue‘s case, that means staying up until 6:00 a.m. studying the No. 7 seed Indiana Pacers — his first round advisary.
While they led the Eastern Conference standings for the majority of the season, a rocky stretch through March and April (10-14 after March 1st) saw the Cavaliers fall to the No. 2 seed — but that isn’t stopping LeBron James from remaining confident in his team’s chances of defending the Larry O’Brien trophy.
“We have a good chance to win it all,” James said after Thursday’s practice. “But it starts with baby steps first, and we understand that. It starts with our opponent in two days. We have to be very determined, but we also have to be very smart about our game plan and how we execute that game plan, execute that (for as close to) 48 minutes as possible starting with Game 1.”
Despite falling to the No. 2 seed, James, who finished the regular season with career-highs in dunks, assists (8.7), and rebounds (8.6) per game, is right to be confident. Furthermore, the Cavs, who have dealt with a myriad of injuries throughout their 2016-17 campaign, seem to be getting healthy at the right time.
The Cavs will kick off their playoff push on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. EST inside Quicken Loans Arena. As coach Lue says, “It’s time to put up or shut up.”