Cavs’ Warts Showing Up Again

How short is the memory of Cleveland Cavaliers’ fans?

Have they forgotten that the Toronto Raptors won one less game in the regular season than the wine and gold?

This is the Eastern Conference Finals. It’s not supposed to be easy. And the Cavs and Raptors were the two best teams in the East for the entire season.

Thinking Cleveland was going to cakewalk to The Finals is shortsighted and is probably the reason for the angst that fans have this morning after the 105-99 loss to Canada’s darlings.

A few of the things we were concerned about before the series started have reared their ugly heads in the contests played up north.

That doesn’t mean these things can’t be corrected, and quite frankly, until the Cavs lose the home court advantage or there is a seventh game of the series, we will not go into panic mode.

In the first two games, the Raptors were concerned about the three point shooting of the Cavs, so they extended their defense, and Tyronn Lue’s club made a parade to the basket, including an array of dunks.

Toronto closed off the paint at home, and Cleveland hasn’t been as proficient from distance as they were against Detroit and Atlanta.

Lue has to come up with a counter, and maybe he did by playing Channing Frye at center in the fourth quarter, which drew Bismack Biyombo away from the hoop.

It’s simple, if the long range shots aren’t falling, you have to try something else, and you need to attack the basket. And we aren’t talking about driving one on four like Kyrie Irving has time and again over the past two games.

The bigger issue in the last two games has been the defense, particularly on the Raptors’ all-star backcourt combination of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.

The Cavs seem to be going behind the screen on Lowry, allowing him open looks on three point shots, while DeRozan’s mid-range game has JR Smith and LeBron James on their heels consistently.

Perhaps blitzing the pick and roll more often, like Cleveland did early in the fourth quarter, should be the plan. Let the offensive burden be more on DeMarre Carroll, Patrick Patterson, etc.

Also, Tristan Thompson has not been effective keeping Biyombo off the boards.

The media narrative is that Kevin Love is killing the Cavs defensively, because he is always the reason the wine and gold lose, right? We don’t see any evidence that Luis Scola and/or Patrick Patterson doing damage offensively.

Think about last night’s fourth quarter. Cleveland scored on 11 straight possessions, but the reason the Cavs could get no more than a three point lead was the inability to stop the Raptors on the defensive end.

A few stops at that time, and we are talking about a 3-1 series lead.

The Cavaliers simply have to do a better job slowing down Lowry and DeRozan, and then limiting the Raptors to one shot.

It sounds simple, but the defense must get better, and the offense can’t settle for the long range shot. Attack the basket and get to the foul line.

One more thing that was striking about last night’s comeback attempt in the fourth quarter. The offense was running through James and Matthew Dellavedova.

This isn’t to say Delly is better than Kyrie Irving, but the latter seems to be in his “try to do everything himself” mode at times.

A victory tomorrow night will ease the panic and put Toronto in a position to be eliminated.

It is true that the Cavs haven’t been able to win in Canada, but the same is true about the Raptors at The Q.

One Loss Shouldn’t Cause Concern

You really didn’t think the Cleveland Cavaliers were going to go 16-0 in the playoffs, did you?

That is why the Cavs’ 99-84 loss to Toronto last night doesn’t have us wringing our hands with despair.

After all, Cleveland still has a 2-1 series edge, and they didn’t do anything as damaging as losing the home court advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The wine and gold shot 35.4% from the field in game three, and we believe most teams that shoot as poorly from the floor as Tyronn Lue’s squad did, would come to the same fate.

It is well documented that Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love shot a combined 4 for 28 from the floor last night, and we would bet that won’t happen again during the rest of the playoffs, let alone this series.

The Raptors were playing their first conference finals game in the history of the franchise, and they were up to the challenge, and their fans were rightfully excited for the team’s premier foray to the NBA’s final four.

There was a lot of emotion in the building and the Cavaliers didn’t diffuse it early in the game.

Love missed some shots early and seemed hesitant to be more active offensively, and Irving missed some contested drives to the hoop in the first quarter as well, but he seemed to take the Raptors’ bait, and continued to try to get to the basket by going through four Toronto players instead of moving the ball and letting someone else have open looks.

“Bad” Kyrie made his first appearance of the playoffs.

However, we will write this off as one bad game, and after the dominance the Cavs have displayed for most of the post-season, they are entitled to a off night.

Now, it’s Tyronn Lue who has to make some adjustments instead of trying to come up with counters to what he thinks the opponent will come up with.

We would guess Lue will try to get Irving and Love some easy looks early, so they can get the taste of game three out of their mouths as early as possible. No doubt, LeBron James will help provide them with those looks.

Defensively, the wine and gold need to slow down DeMar DeRozan early. He had his mid-range game going in the first half, although JR Smith was in good position defensively for many of those attempts.

As for Bismack Biyombo, who had the game of his life Saturday night with 26 rebounds, Lue said it best. The Cavs’ coach said the Raptor big man had a lot of boards because Cleveland missed a lot of shots.

However, they need to continue to make open shots difficult for Kyle Lowry and Terrence Ross, because if either can get their three point shot down, it could make game four a difficult proposition.

To be blunt, the Raptors played perhaps their best game of the playoffs and the Cavaliers played their worst, and the outcome was still in doubt halfway through the fourth quarter.

And even if Toronto can hold serve and win Monday night, two of the next three games will be at Quicken Loans Arena.

Relax, it’s the playoffs. It’s not supposed to as easy as it has been thus far.

LeBron James and his crew will play better in game four. And Irving and Love will not shoot 14% for the entire game.

A Look At Cavs-Raptors Matchup

And then there were four…

The NBA playoffs started what seems to be eons ago with 16 teams in the tournament, and now we are down to just a quartet, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are one of those teams.

Tonight, the Cavs and Raptors open the Eastern Conference Finals at Quicken Loans Arena.

The two teams met three times in the regular season with the Raptors winning two of them, although Cleveland’s starting point guard in one of the losses was Jared Cunningham, because both Kyrie Irving and Matthew Dellavedova were out nursing injuries.

Remember that the Raptors finished one game behind Cleveland for the best record in the East, and they also have an all star backcourt in Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.

Toronto is one of the league’s best shooting teams from three point range, with the 5th best percentage in the league at 37%.

The also take a ton of free throws, ranking third in the NBA in that department. LeBron James alluded to their shooters making a lot of pump fakes and that Cleveland defenders must stand their ground.

Despite those numbers, the Raptors rank 13th in the league in scoring (the Cavs are 8th), so Toronto doesn’t play as fast as the wine and gold, something Tyronn Lue’s club will try to take advantage of, pushing the tempo.

Defensively, the Raptors rank one spot above the Cavs in points allowed per game, giving up a tenth of a point per contest less than the Cavaliers.

They do rank 5th in field goal percentage against, but they are second worst in the league in defending the three point shot.

So, if the Cavs want to get to the basket they will need to do so in transition because Toronto is going to do what the Hawks did, pack the paint, and allow their opponents to beat them from outside.

Of course, that didn’t work for Atlanta.

The Raptors are a little more physically imposing as the Hawks are, especially if Jonas Valanciunas can play in the series. If we can, they have three solid inside defenders in Valanciunas, Bismack Biyombo, and Luis Scola.

They also have DeMarre Carroll, who has given LeBron James more trouble than most defenders.

The Cavs can counter these inside presences by using Channing Frye to draw the big men away from the hoop, and you may see some Timofey Mozgov to bother the Raptors’ bigs defensively.

Remember that until he was hurt, Valanciunas was probably Toronto’s best player in the Miami series, so he can be a force.

As has been a constant during these playoffs, a big key for Cleveland defensively will be stopping penetration, particularly by Lowry. This means once again all eyes are on Irving, who has been much better in the post-season on the defensive end.

Two other factors could come into play in this series. One would be fatigue. The Raptors have played 14 games since the regular season ended, while Cleveland has played eight. With the extra intensity involved in playoff games, you have to wonder if the Cavs’ fresher legs give them an advantage.

The other thing is the satisfaction level of Toronto. Are they happy with getting to the conference finals for the first time in their history? Sometimes your goal isn’t what you think it is.

If the Cavs continue to play like they did in the first two rounds, they will be Eastern Conference champions again. There isn’t any reason why that level of play cannot continue.

Are The Cavs A Three Point Team?

After the barrage of three point shots the Cleveland Cavaliers made in their Eastern Conference semi-finals sweep of the Atlanta Hawks, people have been asking if Tyronn Lue’s squad has decided that it is better to live and die with the outside shot.

Certainly, the game has changed greatly since the advent of the three point line in the late 70’s when the NBA took it from the ABA.

At the beginning it was used more as a means to catch up in a game, to give you a chance to tie a game up when you were losing by three late in a contest.

Now, pretty much every team in that plays the sport embraces the long distance shot.

We saw the change coming in the late 80’s/early 90’s at the high school and AAU levels, when we saw players pulling up for threes off of fast break opportunities. Until then, you were taught to get the easy basket, to get the ball as close as possible to score.

When you think back in Cavaliers’ history, the “Miracle of Richfield” teams were based on the perimeter scoring of guys like Campy Russell, Bingo Smith, Dick Snyder, and Austin Carr.

They may not have been shooting from a three point line distance, but their ability to make jump shots consistently was a key to their success.

So, have the current Cavs developed into a team that lives and dies by the three? We would say no.

One of the biggest reasons for all of the open threes converting by Cleveland in the Atlanta series was that the Hawks were determined not to get beat in the paint. They blitzed Kyrie Irving to force the ball out of his hands so he couldn’t drive, and there was certainly a huge amount of traffic when LeBron James tried to get the ball to the basket.

On the other hand, Lue’s crew shot 138 threes in the four game sweep of the Pistons, compared to the 152 they hoisted against the Hawks. Those numbers are pretty comparable.

In the Warriors first round series vs. Houston, they attempted 144 shots from behind the arc, an average of almost 29 per game. The Cavaliers averaged 34.5 per contest in their four game sweep.

Golden State is averaging 31 threes per game in the second round series against Portland, compared to Cleveland’s 38.5 in the whitewashing of Atlanta.

That would seem to make the wine and gold being more of a long distance shooting team than the squad who seemingly invented the style, the defending champions.

It would probably surprise you to know the Warriors only had two players who averaged more than four three point shots per game: Stephen Curry (a whopping 11.2/game) and Klay Thompson.

The Cavaliers have four players who shoot from behind the line more that four times a game on average: JR Smith (6.6), Kevin Love (5.7), Kyrie Irving (4.9), and Channing Frye (4.4). James is close at 3.7 per game during the regular season.

The Cavs are following the “analytics” that show a three point shot is more efficient than a long two point attempt.

So, the answer is yes, the Cleveland Cavaliers are most definitely a team relying on the three point shot.

Our fear is that when the long distance shot isn’t falling, which hasn’t happened in the playoffs yet, they will forget to attack the hoop.

Of course, if you have four or five players who shoot it from out there regularly, what are the chance all of them will be cold.

That’s what Tyronn Lue and the Cavs are banking on.

Game 3 Won’t Be Easy For Cavs

After last night’s blowout victory at Quicken Loans Arena by the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Atlanta Hawks, fans seem to be not only regarding the Hawks as a speed bump on the way to a title.

Not to be a wet blanket, but we believe Friday night’s game could be the sternest test the wine and gold have faced in the playoffs thus far.

Mike Budenholzer’s team was thoroughly embarrassed yesterday. He pulled his starters toward the end of the third quarter.

Despite the lopsided win yesterday, and the nine straight victories by Cleveland over the last two seasons, the Hawks aren’t the Philadelphia 76ers. They won 60 games last season and won 48 this year.

And if they have any pride at all, and we believe they do, they have some pro’s pros over there in Paul Millsap and Al Hoford, they will come out Friday night and fight on their home floor to get back into the series.

TNT’s Charles Barkley hammered the attitude of the Hawks as well, basically saying that Atlanta’s players lost their fight after halftime, when they needed to set a tone for game three.

Our guess is the series will take a physical tone too, especially from the home team, because they will be playing angry. They have to be sick and tired of the Cavs beating them, particularly in the playoffs.

This doesn’t mean the Cavaliers won’t win, because at this point, Cleveland has to be in the heads of the Hawks. They have to wonder what they have to do to defeat the number one seed in the East.

All we are seeing is that last night’s game was probably an anomaly, the Cavs aren’t winning by more than 20 points again in the series.

Since we don’t take anything for granted, fans shouldn’t think for a minute that if Cleveland advances to the conference finals, that will not be a cakewalk either.

The fans need to slow their roll a tad.

The guys wearing the wine and gold uniforms are saying the correct things and the supporters of the squad should listen.

JR Smith said it right after the game. All the Cavs did was hold the home court, and now they have to go on the road for the first time in the series and win in Atlanta. They weren’t sending the NBA a “message”, they were just doing what they were supposed to do.

It is understandable that the fans are getting excited. The Cavs are the only team that hasn’t lost a playoff game, and through six post-season games, their outside shooting is on point.

Last night’s 25 three point makes is proof of that.

But remember that for the most part, NBA players have pride and they don’t like to be embarrassed. That’s why we think it won’t be easy on Friday night, that’s all.

Now, if the Cavs can overcome the Hawks’ emotion in game three and come out with a victory, this series won’t come back to Cleveland.

Atlanta likely will not have anything left.

Remember, every playoff game is different. Friday night will be no exception.

Previewing Cavs-Hawks

Last year, the Cleveland Cavaliers swept the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference finals and earned their second berth in the NBA championship round in the franchise’s history.

This year, they take on the Hawks in the conference semi-finals after Atlanta eliminated Boston in six games in the first round.

What can the Cavs expect starting on Monday night?

For the season, the wine and gold averaged 104.3 points per game compared to 102.8 for the Hawks. Defensively, the Cavaliers allowed 98.3 points (4th) compared to 99.2 (6th) for the team from the Peachtree State.

After last season, the Hawks were branded as a ball movement team that relied on the three point shot, led by Kyle Korver. Actually, the Cavs took 100 more shots from beyond the arc, and finished 7th in threes made, compared to Atlanta’s middle of the pack rank (15th).

Down the stretch, the Hawks became a tenacious defensive group, allowing the worst field goal percentage in the NBA at 43.2%. Tyronn Lue’s group ranked 14th in this category.

Mike Budenholzer’s squad also ranked 5th in defense against the three point shot. So, there is no doubt that Atlanta is very good at defending shooters.

However, it becomes a problem for them once a shot is missed.

The Hawks are simply not a good rebounding team. Twenty three teams had more rebounds than them, and they allowed the 4th most offensive rebounds in the sport.

Cleveland was 9th in total rebounds and allowed the fifth least offensive rebounds as a team in 2015-16.

That makes Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love keys to this series. If they can keep possessions alive after missed shots and can convert, that’s very demoralizing to opposing teams.

Jeff Teague improved his long range shooting tremendously this season, hitting 40% of his three point shots, compared to 34% a year ago. He can be a handful for Kyrie Irving, who must stop penetration.

He did not shoot well from distance against Boston, so we would test his ability to make shots early in the series.

His backup, Dennis Schroder, who plays a lot, isn’t a good shooter from outside.

Atlanta’s best player is veteran Paul Millsap, an undersized four at 6’8″, but a very good scorer at 17 points per night. He is very good at converting second chances, Love, Thompson, and company must keep him off the boards.

Because of Millsap’s size, it will be easy for Lue to use LeBron James at the four. The Cavs should be able to match up easily if they want to go small.

Al Horford is Atlanta’s third leading scorer, and he’s a bit undersized to play the center spot. Also, he seems to want to take more shots from the perimeter, which if we were playing defense, would be exactly what we wanted him to do.

And there is no question that Cleveland has to keep an eye on Kyle Korver, one of the NBA’s best long range shooters.

His three point shooting dropped by 10% this season, but you can’t let him get open looks. You are surprised if he misses those.

Also, when he is on the floor, you have to go at him defensively. He’s not a strong defender, and now 35 years old, isn’t getting any quicker.

With the home court advantage, it will be critical for the Cavs to come out and win the first two, obviously. If they can win big, after last year’s sweep, the Hawks could be demoralized early.

This also shouldn’t be a physical of a series as the first round match up vs. Detroit was. Atlanta doesn’t have the big bodies, but they are a better defensive team.

If Love and Irving are shooting well, we would figure the Cavs in no more than five games.

Playoffs Start, Kyrie Playing Much Better

Over the last few weeks of the regular season, the Cleveland Cavaliers had problems playing consistently, even within games.

They also seemed to play better without Kyrie Irving in the game.

He monopolized the ball, endlessly dribbling, and hoisting bad shots when he couldn’t find a way to the basket and the shot clock was running down.

The biggest problem though was his shooting. His marksmanship from three point range had dropped 10% from a year ago. He was prone to games where he was shooting more than 20 times per game and barely get over 20 points.

We thought if Irving was on your team in a pickup game, he wouldn’t be much fun to play with.

However, he seemed to change all of that once the playoffs started.

With the Cavs on the brink of a first round sweep of the Detroit Pistons, Irving’s game has returned to where it used to be. In fact, Friday night, he may have played his best of the season.

He was patient, yet aggressive if that is possible.

He looked to score early in the possession, and if something wasn’t there, he didn’t continue to dribble, he moved the ball and got it back.

And he hit the dagger shot with less than a second left on the 24 second shot clock with a corner three.

The former first overall pick is hitting 52% of his shots behind the arc in the series, and is making 46.8% of his two point shots as well. His effective field goal percentage 56.5%.

He still isn’t much of a playmaker, ranking third on the team in assists (behind LeBron James and his backup at the point, Matthew Dellavedova), but he’s only had four turnovers.

And after all of the angst about how the “Big Three” doesn’t fit well, and doesn’t play well together, all three of them are averaging over 20 points per game: Irving at 26.3, James (23.0), and Kevin Love (21.3).

Both Irving and Love have also played much better defense in these games vs. Detroit. Love was put in a couple of one-on-one situations with Piston point guard Reggie Jackson late in game one, and forced a couple of bad shots.

Irving has held Jackson to 45.2% shooting from the floor, and he has taken just three free throws in the series, obviously the forays into the lane are being minimized.

Now, we understand the Pistons are the 8th seed, and obviously will be the weakest opponent the Cavs will play in the playoffs. It only gets tougher as you move on.

But as we have said all year long, the wine and gold’s primary opponent all year has been themselves, and in judging them based on how they have played since the post-season has begun, they have stepped up the quality of basketball.

The Cavs still need to continue to improve defensively, particularly in the first half of games. Tyronn Lue has done a great job of making adjustments at halftime, because the defense has clamped down in the second half.

As the playoffs go on, you cannot have a poor first half defensively because you might go into the locker room down double digits instead of down five, like in game one in Cleveland.

But the Cleveland Cavaliers appear to be in playoff mode, and it helps that Kyrie Irving has stepped his game up.

There were many in town concerned about his play over the last two months.

Sizing Up Cavs Vs. Pistons

The Cleveland Cavaliers open the post-season Sunday afternoon at Quicken Loans Arena against the Detroit Pistons, and it doesn’t figure to be as easy as last season’s path to the second round.

As you well remember, the Cavs swept the Boston Celtics a year ago, in a series most known for the Celtics’ physicality. We all recall losing Kevin Love for the balance of the playoffs after his arm was pulled out of its socket by Kelly Olynyk.

We say it won’t be as easy because the conference as a whole is better. Boston was a below .500 team (40-42) in the 2014-15 season, and this year, the Pistons are 44-38, which would have given them the 6th seed a year ago.

That said, the two teams do have some similarities. Both are playoff newcomers, it has been since 2009 that Detroit has been in the post-season, while the Celts were very young a year ago.

Both squads are led in scoring by their point guards. Reggie Jackson leads the Pistons with an 18.8 average, and both Kyrie Irving and Mo Williams (when he was starting at the beginning of the year) had problems containing Jackson.

However, he is just a 35% shooter from behind the arc, so logic dictates that Cavs’ defenders make him knock down a few shots from outside and take away the drive initially. That will be something to watch early in the series.

Unlike Boston though, the Pistons have a dominant presence inside in Andre Drummond, who averaged 16.2 points and 14.8 rebounds per game. Detroit ranked second in the NBA in offensive boards throughout the season, so it is incumbent on the Cavs to limit the guys from the Motor City to just one shot.

Drummond’s achilles heel though is his free throw shooting. Making just 35.5% of his tosses, it is very likely we will see a lot of deliberate fouling on Cleveland’s part to force the big man to the line, or perhaps to the bench.

It is hard to see coach Stan Van Gundy keeping Drummond on the floor in a close game because of this problem.

Still, it seems like Drummond could be a factor if Tristan Thompson cannot handle him on the boards. We know Thompson is terrific on the glass as well, but the Piston is better.

And because Thompson isn’t really an offensive threat, it leaves Drummond free to contest shots around the basket, meaning the Cavs better have their perimeter game working.

When Channing Frye is in the game, he should get some open looks because Drummond doesn’t want to play outside.

This makes Lue’s handling of Timofey Mozgov more curious. The big man will be needed in this series and in a potential matchup with Toronto in the conference finals

Mid-season acquisition Tobias Harris has been very good for Detroit since coming over from Orlando, but he pales in comparison to LeBron James, who will be his match up.

As usual, the Cavs biggest opponent in this series will be themselves. If Irving and Kevin Love are scoring, it opens things up for JR Smith, and those four can put up 100 points between the quartet.

They also need to move the basketball and lock themselves in on defense. If they don’t forget that is their recipe for winning, it should be a short series.

But make no mistake, these Pistons have some weapons which have been problems for the Cavaliers. If they don’t pay attention to detail, Detroit could steal a game or two.

Road Back To Finals Will Be Tougher For Cavs

With the NBA playoffs starting this weekend, the common verse being sung by local fans and both the local and national media is the Cleveland Cavaliers should win the Eastern Conference and return to the NBA Finals.

Why? Because they have LeBron James and he will raise his game in the post-season to another level.

And? Because the Cavs have a very talented roster and eventually they will put everything together.

And?? That’s about all they have.

That’s worrisome from our point of view. And an awful lot to put on the shoulders of James, although the way he has played over the last month shows he may still be the best basketball player in the world, despite the Stephen Curry enthusiasts.

Look, this isn’t last season, when the top seeded team was the Atlanta Hawks, a team without a lot of playoff success in the past, and not a physically overwhelming roster.

The East is much better in 2015-16, making the Cavs route back to The Finals, much more treacherous.

In short, the wine and gold need to have their act together starting this weekend, which is tricky because they seem to be playing in a fog over the last month.

Yes, yes, they played well last night against Atlanta. It showed once again how good this team can be when they are clicking on all cylinders, but what happens when some adversity gets in the way, such as the opponents’ defense taking something away.

One of the members of the “Big Three”, Kyrie Irving, is in a huge shooting slump, and when he doesn’t shoot, he is dribbling an excessive amount of time.

Kevin Love has been starting games scoring a lot, but then he seems to disappear, mostly because it seems his teammates forget he is on the floor.

JR Smith has become a consistent three point threat, but “consistency” is not a word usually associated with Smith.

Post scoring? Forget it, unless it is James doing it. Timofey Mozgov’s minutes are dwindling by the week, and Tristan Thompson’s best offensive play is getting a rebound on that end of the court.

Mozgov seems to be marginalized by Lue, which we aren’t sure is a good move, because the Cavs will need him, particularly against Detroit and Toronto.

Iman Shumpert has struggled with his shot all year, although he is out there for his defensive ability. Matthew Dellavedova looks like a guy who needs a few days off before the playoffs start. His shot seems to have taken a siesta as well.

The other question is how will Lue handle himself in the playoffs. We said this a year ago with David Blatt, but the post-season is really the measure of coaching in the NBA because adjustments are needed to fit your opponent.

Can Lue make the tactical moves needed to offset what other teams are doing to Cleveland both offensively and defensively?

This isn’t a knock on Lue, we just don’t know if he can make the correct moves to counteract the other squad.

And he will be going up against some veteran guys with success in the post-season, guys like Stan Van Gundy, Frank Vogel, and perhaps the best bench coach in the league, Boston’s Brad Stevens.

Right now, based on the past several weeks, we have questions as to whether or not the Cavaliers can get back to The Finals, because it seems once again to be all on the shoulders of James.

There is no doubt he can carry the team there, but it doesn’t give the wine and gold much margin for error.

This we do know. It won’t be easy to return.

Kyrie’s Biggest Problem? He’s Lost His Shot

After Sunday’s 112-103 victory over the Charlotte Hornets, LeBron James proclaimed the Cleveland Cavaliers ready for the playoffs.

And with a 3-1/2 game lead over Toronto in the Eastern Conference standings and just five games remaining, the wine and gold’s magic number for home court advantage within the East is just three.

The guess here is the Cavs “big three” could see a lot of rest between now and the regular season.

The biggest concern for Tyronn Lue the balance of the schedule, besides making sure everyone is healthy is getting Kyrie Irving back on track.

Irving’s shot is off, although there is evidence that he is taking the “shoot your way of a slump” approach.

In the first 32 games, the former first overall pick was active this season, he took 20 or more shots just eight times.

In the last 17 games he has played, he has hoisted 20 plus field goal attempts seven times. And in total, he has fired 20 or more shots nine times in the last 23 games, dating back to the first game vs. the Lakers, when Kobe Bryant urged him not to lose his aggressiveness.

Shooting would be fine if Irving’s shot was going down, but he has only knocked down 33 of the 104 shots taken in his last six games (32%).

Not only that, but the former three point shot champion has made just a little over 30% from behind the arc since the beginning of March.

For the year, Irving is making just 31% of his threes. Last year, he made 41.5%.

The Cavs simply need Irving to regain his shooting eye if they want to get back to The Finals, because the road will no doubt be tougher this season with the Raptors challenging, and don’t sleep on the Boston Celtics.

Perhaps he is still regaining the strength in his leg after the dislocated kneecap suffered in last year’s championship round, and that’s the reason for his shot being off, but Cleveland needs the Irving who is a threat from outside.

That could be why Kyrie is forcing his way to the basket so much. His confidence in his shot has waned, so he is dribbling too much trying to get to the hoop.

On the other hand, he often takes a quick outside shot without the Cavs offense having an opportunity to run anything resembling an offensive set.

Irving is not a strong defender and isn’t exactly a willing passer, so if he’s not making shots, Lue has better options on the roster to play so the team performs better.

That seems like a slam on Irving, but it’s really no different than saying if Tristan Thompson wasn’t able to rebound well, he shouldn’t play.

We have joked that Irving not playing means better ball movement and Kevin Love will have a good game.

The point is that LeBron James’ outside shooting percentage declining, and Iman Shumpert not shooting well, the Cavs need consistent shooting from three point land to stretch the floor.

Right now, only JR Smith, Love, and Matthew Dellavedova (as long as he is spotted up) provide bona fide threats from outside.

Channing Frye is a specialist. If he’s not hitting shots, we doesn’t get much time.

That’s why it is so important that whatever is ailing Irving’s shot gets cured before the playoffs begin.

We can live with the weaknesses in his game if he’s not scoring by taking a heavy volume of shots.

Going forward though, to become a truly elite player, Irving needs to be more of a team player and a better defender.

But the shot is the thing that has to get fixed. And as soon as possible for the Cavs.