Tyronn Lue returned to the bench for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night and, after a nine-game absence, things got off to a rousing start against the Washington Wizards. That included a double-digit lead at the end of the first quarter but, from there, Washington exploded to the point where Cleveland was in a severely perilous position, trailing by 16 points with approximately six minutes left in the game.
On cue, LeBron James did LeBron James things, scoring 13 points and dishing out four assists in crunch time, and the end result was a 119-115 victory in Lue’s comeback.
Following the game, Lue took no credit for the win, though, instead thanking his team and telling Dave McMenamin of ESPN he felt “rusty” after missing extended time.
“I told the guys after the game, ‘Good job of bailing me out.’ It was tough. First game back and not having a point guard and not knowing what sets to call and what to run because you haven’t worked on it. … Just on the fly, it was tough. And those guys did a good job of scoring 119 points with no point guard and just sticking with it. Our rotations were a little off tonight so, I mean, I was rusty.”
Lue went on to discuss his decision to play two traditional bigs, Larry Nance Jr. and Tristan Thompson, together at times during the game and, while that delicate balancing act won’t be alleviated in the near future, the Cavs were able to overcome it in this spot.
Obviously, it is tough to blame Lue for a bit of rust given all he has been dealing with but, in the same breath, there has already been push-back on the announced decision to deploy Jeff Green in the starting lineup and Lue will be under the microscope given the looming expectations of a team featuring the game’s best player.
In his return, Tyronn Lue probably didn’t perform at his highest level but the Cavs, behind James, were able to pick up an impressive win over a playoff-caliber opponent. Now, it will be interesting to see what the next step entails for both coach and team.
