The Cleveland Cavaliers have grabbed a commanding 3-0 series lead in their Eastern Conference semifinals matchup against the Toronto Raptors after LeBron James drained a game-winner in Game 3 on Saturday night. It has put the franchise just a win away from reaching their fourth straight Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
This has also led to head coach Tyronn Lue to consider more flexibility in the back end of the rotation moving forward in the second-round playoff series against the Raptors.
According to Nikki Goel of ClutchPoints, Lue voiced on Sunday morning that he is considering putting both point guard Jose Calderon and small forward Cedi Osman back in the playoff rotation.
Both Osman and Calderon have been almost entirely filtered out of the rotation as the Cavaliers move through the playoffs. In fact, the veteran guard has only played in five out of the possible 10 games where he is averaging 15.0 minutes per contest with 3.2 points, 1.0 rebounds, and 0.8 assists. He hasn’t taken the floor since Game 6 of the first-round series against the Indiana Pacers as Lue has leaned more on guards Jordan Clarkson, Rodney Hood, and Kyle Korver to help provide more offensive spark in the backcourt.
Meanwhile, Osman’s playing time has been more sporadic in the playoffs taking the court in just three games where he is averaging 0.5 points and 0.3 rebounds in 3.3 minutes per contest. He has only played in Game 2 of the series against the Raptors taking the floor for just three minutes without contributing statistically in any area.
This sudden change in mindset from Tyronn Lue may be directly correlated to the position that Cavaliers have pushed themselves into at this point. The team is holding a comfortable series lead with Game 4 at Quicken Loans Arena on Monday to potentially move on to the next round. That said, this could see both players finally be able to grasp some sort of role off the bench in the playoffs.
