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The Cleveland Cavaliers steamrolled their opponents in the first two rounds of the NBA playoffs, pulling off sweeps against both the Pistons and the Hawks. A similar cakewalk was expected in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Toronto Raptors, a team that needed seven games to beat the Indiana Pacers in the first round. However, things haven’t gone according to plan, and the Cavaliers now find themselves in a series tied at two games apiece with the Raptors.
Meanwhile, coach Ty Lue finds himself under fire for, among other things, playing LeBron James 46 minutes in the Game 4 loss. According to Lue, though, it’s LeBron who determines how many minutes he plays.
Discussing LeBron’s minutes in Game 4, Lue said, “”I’m comfortable playing him — whatever he feels good, I’m comfortable with. We talked about it before the game and the night before how his body felt and wanting to play more minutes because we knew it was a big game for us, but it didn’t work out.”
It didn’t work out, indeed, because the Raptors evened up the series 2-2 heading back to Cleveland. And Lue had scorn heaped upon him. Sure, the struggles of other Cavaliers, such as Kevin Love who sat out the fourth quarter (in part, due to a foot injury) played a role, as did Toronto’s strong first half to build a big lead.
But there is still reason to question Lue’s decision to play LeBron all those minutes, even if it was James’ idea. Yes, there is something enticing about just turning a game over to one of the best players of all-time, but LeBron is not a young man anymore, and the Cavs have to play at least two more games in this series.
Now the first-year head coach is under the microscope for how many minutes LeBron plays in Game 5. Will he play almost an entire game again? Or will his minutes be more reasonable? If Lue keeps playing LeBron almost all game, fatigue is going to set in, and with fatigue comes an increased risk of injury – or critical lapses in concentration. If that happens, then the Cavs may be sunk, and Lue will get plenty of fingers pointed his way.
(Via Cleveland.com)
