Tomorrow afternoon, the NBA’s defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers will begin their playoff push against the Indiana Pacers inside Quicken Loans Arena at 3 p.m. EST.
As most fans of the team know, the Cavs just haven’t had much time for practice this season. Injuries to their rotation and flying from city to city can be blamed for the lack of rehearsal time. Yesterday, head coach Tyronn Lue finally had a chance to bring his players together for a solid workout and film session. Coach Lue didn’t stop there…
According to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, Coach Lue was up until 6 a.m. Thursday morning studying and preparing for the Pacers. Coach Lue tells Vardon that he started his preparations after it became clear that his team would face the Pacers in the first round of the playoffs.
Two days isn’t much time to prepare, but Coach Lue tells Vardon that he and his coaching staff have been “cramming a lot of stuff in.”
“I think the last two years we’ve had that extra day to kind of prepare and not give them so much at once,” Lue said Thursday after the Cavs’ first playoff practice. “But today we had to cram a lot of stuff in. And that’s to be expected when you play two days later.”
Staying up so late might seem like a bad idea for most, but it’s not uncommon for NBA coaches to lock in on their opponent during the playoffs. During his media availability yesterday afternoon, Lue shed light on some his plans for facing the Pacers. Lue spoke of keeping Paul George, who scored 43 points against the Cavs in an overtime loss on April 2, and former Cavalier C.J. Miles, in check.
“They’re not guys that are going to come down and beat you off the dribble and run pick-and-roll,” Lue said of George and Miles. “You have to be aware of C.J. Miles. In transition you can’t be messing around in the backcourt, he’s sprinting the floor and getting open 3’s or you’re falling asleep and not seeing where he is at to get open shots. Those are the types of plays we have to take away.
“Paul George is ball dominant and has the ball in his hands, can make plays off the dribble, catch and shoot, post-ups, so that’s what I’m talking about.”
Lue’s players and staff have supreme confidence in his ability to scheme against opposing sides, including LeBron James. “The King,” as James is justly known, says it will be up to the players to execute the gameplan.
“We want to win, right?” James said Thursday. “We want to win, our coaching staff gives us a game plan, let’s execute it and our coaching staff will make the necessary adjustments if needed and put us in position to win. It’s up to us to go out and execute it.”
