Things did not go well for the Cavs in Game 1 of their series against the Pacers as Indiana waltzed into Cleveland and blasted them 98-80 to steal homecourt for the series.
LeBron James refused to be concerned about being down 0-1 in the series, citing his history in the playoffs and that famous 3-1 comeback in the 2016 Finals, but it’s hard for fans not to have some concerns about the Cavs going forward. With LeBron, it’s always possible that he carries the squad to a series win and beyond, but he will need some help in the form of teammates making shots which no one was really able to do in Game 1.
At Monday’s practice, coach Tyronn Lue mentioned that he “knows” what his best 5-man lineup is but couldn’t really use it in Game 1, which led to some confusion and a necessary clarification. On Tuesday, Lue gave that clarification, noting that he did indeed have it on the floor briefly when Kyle Korver was out there.
#Cavs Ty Lue trying to clarify his best lineup response from yesterday: "We got to it a little bit. When Kyle was out there for three minutes. We didn’t get to it but we got to it, that’s what I meant by that."
— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) April 17, 2018
As Joe Vardon noted, that lineup was Kyle Korver, George Hill, Jeff Green, Kevin Love, and LeBron James.
By the way, we know what Ty believes is his best lineup: LeBron, Kevin, Hill, Korver, and Green.
— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) April 17, 2018
After Green’s dismal showing in Game 1, many Cavs were hoping to see an adjustment from Lue regarding his minutes, but given this quote it’s pretty clear the veteran won’t be falling out of favor with Lue. That lineup played 30 minutes together in the regular season, with a robust 120.2 offensive rating, but struggled defensively with a 114.8 defensive rating, good for a 5.4 net rating. That’s solid and so there is some evidence that this lineup works and the general concept behind putting shooters around LeBron like Korver and Love, along with a secondary ball handler and solid shooter like Hill, makes sense.
The problem is, that group went scoreless in their three minutes together in Game 1. That is obviously a wildly small sample size, but for a lineup that is questionable at best defensively, they can’t really make up for even mediocre shooting on that end, much less an 0-for. If Korver and Hill are fully healthy and available for Game 2, we can expect to see this lineup more often. If they shoot well, it will probably work. If they don’t, the Pacers may take advantage yet again.
