Sometimes strategy is hiding in plain sight.
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Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue learned that lesson from Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals and will put this plan in place for Monday's Game 4 against the Raptors: Call more plays for LeBron James.
"I think I should have called more plays to make him dominant," Lue told reporters Sunday (via ESPN.com). "I think we continued to run plays that had been effective and working throughout the course of this series, knowing that Kyrie (Irving) and Kevin (Love) could get going at any time.
"I should have put the ball in LeBron's hands a little bit more to let him create and let him draw double-teams. So that was more on me."
In Saturday's loss, the Cavs were held to 84 points, their fewest in 50 games. Irving, Cleveland's' leading scorer (and shot-taker) in the postseason, and Love were a combined 4-for-28 (12.5 percent) from the floor as the Raptors focused particularly on limiting Irving.
And while James scored a team-high 24 points, he took only 17 shots. In fairness to Lue, his previous strategy of using James as more of a facilitator than scorer has worked magnificently. While LeBron is averaging a career-low 23.5 points per game this postseason, the Cavs, before Saturday's belly-flop, were scoring 109 – they were also 10-0.
But on a night when the strategy was failing, Lue didn't shift gears to make James more of a scorer, something James himself acknowledged.
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"With Kyrie kind of setting the offense and then (Matthew Dellavedova) coming in, the ball has kind of been taken out of my hands a little bit. I'm OK with that," James said Sunday. "But there is a point in time where some of the guys are not going, maybe let me see if I can get it going. But last night just didn't happen that way. We'll have a better game plan going into Game 4."
Lue has preached accountability since taking over in January as coach. This time, he blamed himself for not reacting — specifically, not getting the ball to James in the post.
"I have to do a better job of putting them in positions to isolate and be productive," Lue said. "I thought we went away from posting LeBron where they had a double-team and getting easy shots and easy 3-point shots. That's on me."
Look for a change Monday night.
