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.

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.

Can Cavs Put It Together Before Playoffs?

The NBA playoffs are less than a month away, but it feels like the Cleveland Cavaliers are further away than that from competing for an NBA title.

There are many people confident that the Cavs will put it all together before the post-season begins and they will march through the Eastern Conference and get to The Finals for the second consecutive year.

We are not one of those people.

Shortly after Tyronn Lue took over as head coach of the wine and gold, we wrote about how the Cavs had to get mentally tougher as a team in order to win a title.

After more than 30 games with Lue at the helm, the Cavaliers still seem to be shaky in terms of attitude.

There are several reasons for these thoughts:

The Constant Clunkers It seems like this team can’t play more than three good games in a row without following up with a simply horrible outing.

The home loss to Memphis and a terrible performance on Thursday against a bad Brooklyn team are just the two latest examples.

Perhaps they are bored and looking towards the playoffs, but it feels like it happens too often. What’s worse is the coaching staff doesn’t seem to have an answer.

Over-reliance On The Three Ball In the loss to the Nets, the Cavs went 9 of 37 from behind the arc. That’s 24.4%.

When Cleveland loses these days, it is usually because they are not making their threes, so they’ve become a live by the three, die by the three type of team.

The Cavaliers rank 9th in the NBA in three point shooting percentage 35.7%, taking the fourth most in the league.

However, when they aren’t going in, the team doesn’t seem to have or better yet, look for another alternative. They just keep chucking them up from deep.

That would be fine if they didn’t have players who have other options. Both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving can take the ball to the hoop with anyone in the league. And Kevin Love can score in the post and has a solid mid-range game.

JR Smith is also versatile offensively even though he is best known for his long range marksmanship.

When the three ball isn’t falling, the wine and gold have to try another attack.

Defense Or lack of it, we should say. Since Lue took over and wanted the Cavs to play at a faster pace, the defense has suffered. And in the playoffs, you have to be sound at the defensive end.

Too often, Cleveland defenders allow opposing point guards to get into the paint which causes the big men to cover up for them, which in turn, allows their men to get lay ups and dunks.

If that singles out Kyrie Irving, then so be it. He simply has to do a better job keeping his man in front of him.

Which brings us to…

Kyrie Irving Irving has always been a scorer, but he’s becoming a major ball stopper. We don’t have a problem with him scoring, it’s the way it’s being done.

Mostly, he stands around the outside dribbling looking for a lane to drive to the basket. When the defense doesn’t allow that, it creates bad, long range shots to beat the shot clock, and fast break opportunities for the opponents.

Irving needs to move the ball, and then move without it to get open, and then get it back. That would seem to alleviate both problems.

Improvement in these areas would make us feel better about the Cavaliers’ chances.

Do they have the talent to get back to The Finals? Of course. But, the East is better, so without shoring up these areas, it will be difficult to get back.

Love Needs Kyrie To Help Him “Fit In”

As the Cleveland Cavaliers season continues to befuddle basketball fans around town, we pause to remind everyone that since the beginning of last season, supporters had two whipping boys when things didn’t go well.

David Blatt was one of them, and he was fired half way through the 2015-16 schedule, with a record of 30-11 on the season.

So, now to falls on Kevin Love to be the problem whenever anything on the Cavs doesn’t go well.

Our belief is that Love is a very good NBA player, one that the coaching staff and his teammates still haven’t figured out how to use to the best of his abilities.

We will concede that the former UCLA standout misses too many wide open looks from beyond the three point line, but he is not as bad of a defender as is purported, that is as long as he isn’t asked to guard centers.

Our comment when fans tell us Love needs to go, or the Cavs should trade him after the season is over is too say that the power forward isn’t being used right.

After Tyronn Lue took over as coach, he made the comment that he wanted Love to get touches at the elbow, where he had been successful at Minnesota, but there hasn’t been much evidence of that.

Sure, it has been used from time to time, but not on a consistent basis.

It appears from watching games and listening to post game press conferences that LeBron James understands that Love can contribute and is important to the team, however, the third member of the “Big Three” doesn’t seem to feel the same way.

Think about it, how many times do we ever see Kyrie Irving find Love, or really James for that matter, on the court?

Many writers have written about a “disconnect” between James and Irving, but the latter seems to be playing his own game a lot.

Look, Irving is supremely talented, and we are not suggesting that the Cavaliers should trade him. He is simply too good of an offensive force, although we can all agree he needs to work harder on the defensive end of the floor.

However, if anyone needs to make adjustments on the court, it is Irving not Kevin Love, and it is Irving that needs to start getting Love involved, and not just standing on the perimeter waiting for open threes.

We have before that when Lue said upon getting hired that he wanted to play Love with the second unit to make him the focal point, that the role should go to Irving, who wants to play that way anyhow, and is very effective at doing it.

After all, James and Love appear to be able to play together, and it doesn’t seem that LeBron and Kyrie have high chemistry on the court together.

We see Matthew Dellavedova finding James on cuts to the hoop all the time, do you ever see the same with Irving?

If the Cavaliers are going to get back to The Finals, they need an improved Kyrie Irving and a more efficient Kevin Love.

That can happen if the two can learn to play off each other on the offensive end, and Irving stops playing the one on five style he is becoming more and more enamored with.

The only problem with Kevin Love is that the Cavaliers are putting him in the best position so he can help them the best.

Maybe he can’t fit in because of the talents of James and Irving, but wouldn’t it be nice if the latter at least attempted to make it work better?

Cavs Still Seem To Lack Toughness

The Cleveland Cavaliers fired David Blatt on January 22nd with a record of 30-11. This means Tyronn Lue has now been at the helm for roughly six weeks, and the wine and gold have a 14-6 record with him at the helm.

What, if anything has changed?

The most obvious thing is the scoring is up. Cleveland has scored more than 110 points in half of the games with Lue as the head man, while they did the same just nine times in Blatt’s 41 contests as coach.

On the other hand the defense seems to have slipped. The Cavs have allowed more than 100 points in 11 of Lue’s 20 games at the helm, compared to only 17 in the 41 where Blatt was running the show.

Some of that is due to the faster pace the Cavaliers want to play at, but there is no question that the defense, particularly on the perimeter, has taken a step in the wrong direction.

And the other question that needs to be answered is whether or not Cleveland is better off playing faster. Based on the won-lost record, the answer appears to be no.

The one thing that we thought Lue wanted to change with this team was some toughness, making the players accountable for what occurred on a game by game basis.

That is still a work in progress.

In the last couple of weeks, we have seen Kyrie Irving remove himself from a game due to a bout with bedbugs in an Oklahoma City hotel, a deplorable effort without LeBron James on the road against Washington, and several players complaining about the need for “an enforcer”.

This has to drive Lue insane.

The odd thing about the Irving issue was the team did rally and despite having only eight players available scored a huge win over the Thunder, one of the league’s best teams.

But it doesn’t say a lot for Irving’s toughness that he took himself out, especially with Mo Williams out with a knee issue and Matthew Dellavedova on a minutes restriction due to a balky hamstring.

Put this together with Irving’s seemingly indifference on the defensive end, and you have a problem for the head coach and the organization.

It didn’t help with the giant egg laid against the Wizards. Let’s face it, even without James on the floor, Cleveland has two “max” players in Irving and Kevin Love, so to get blown out is inexcusable.

Particularly when the effort seemed to be lacking, something JR Smith addressed to the media after the game.

However, the weirdest issue is the players bringing up the loss of Kendrick Perkins in the off-season, someone who barely played when he was here.

That made us sit back and think the players need to just shut up and play. They seem to be worried about things that could and have gone wrong, rather than having the mindset that they are very talented and should be able to win a title.

The team did take a positive step on Saturday when they fell behind against Boston early, but then overcame the deficit to win the game going away, and against a quality opponent.

Maybe this could be the thing that pulls this team together and pulling in the right direction.

On the other hand, someone might get a hangnail tonight, and the wine and gold will focus on that.

Getting Frye, Not Moving Love=Right Moves for Cavs

The trading deadline in the NBA came and went, and the Cleveland Cavaliers only did some tinkering as we hoped they would earlier this week.

One of the things the Cavs needed to address was getting another reliable shooter from beyond the three point line, and they did just that, getting C/F Channing Frye from Orlando for Anderson Varejao, Jared Cunningham, and some draft picks.

We understand that dealing a long time Cavalier in “Wild Thing” will hurt some fans, but if you take sentimentality out of the equation, you will realize this is a good move by GM David Griffin.

Varejao didn’t get much playing time under either David Blatt or Tyronn Lue, so basically, Griffin moved someone who doesn’t play for someone who should get some minutes and also could solve a weakness.

Let’s face it, Tristan Thompson and Varejao are basically the same player, they don’t compliment each other.

Frye is a career 39% shooter from beyond the three point arc, and is making 40% of these shots in 2015-16.

His minutes are down about eight per game from a year ago, but Frye is now 32, and quite frankly, we would be surprised if he plays more than the 17 minutes a night he was getting in Orlando with the wine and gold.

There were many rumors surrounding Kevin Love as the trade deadline approached, and that made us shake our heads.

The primary rumor was Cleveland getting Ryan Anderson is return, which is ridiculous because he will be a free agent at the end of the season.

Love continues to be a whipping boy for those critical of the Cavs, but we feel the player hasn’t been productive as everyone thought because he is not utilized to the best of his ability.

When Lue took over the team, he wanted to get Love some touches around the elbow, where he had success in his best years with the Timberwolves. However, since the first couple of games, that has disappeared along with the production from Love.

After a four game stretch where the forward averaged 22.5 points and 9 boards per contest, the last four outings have produced 10 points and 7 rebounds.

Granted, Love left two of those games early with injuries, but even when he was in there, he seemed like an afterthought on offense.

Lue talks about sacrifice, but really no one has given up more than Love, who has been used pretty much like a glorified “stretch four”.

We feel that part of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving’s sacrifice should be to get Love some scoring opportunities as well. The team will be tougher to defend when they don’t ignore the big man.

Now, that doesn’t mean Love is blameless. His shot from outside (including at the free throw line) seems flat. He’s had many wide open looks from beyond the arc, and simply hasn’t made as many as he needs to.

His percentage isn’t down from last year, so perhaps again, it’s that he’s being used in this manner too often.

Maybe Frye makes the Cavs less reliant on Love for outside shooting from a big man.

We will not consider Love a “bust” or not worth getting in the trade until the wine and gold make a concerted effort to use him more efficiently.

By the way, we also don’t understand complaining about a guy who averages 16 points and 10 rebounds per night.

Cavs Played A Bad Game Monday, Nothing More

Last night, the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Brooklyn Nets to raise their record to 29-11 for the season, the best record in the Eastern Conference and 4th best overall in the NBA.

You wouldn’t know that by the conversation in town after Monday night’s beatdown of the wine and gold by the defending champion Golden State Warriors, 132-98 at Quicken Loans Arena.

In fact, until the Cavs beat either the Warriors or the San Antonio Spurs, some people won’t give them any credit for the rest of the season.

That’s ridiculous.

It was one game, and that’s all it was.

It is funny to us because the loss to the Warriors is also getting lumped in with the defeat by the Spurs a week ago, even though David Blatt’s team lost that game by four points, on the road, and led the game for most of the first three quarters.

Talk about overreaction.

The reality is it was one colossally bad game. Even Draymond Green, the Warriors’ antagonist, said after the game that they pretty much did everything right, while the wine and gold did everything wrong.

Golden State shot 54.1% from the floor, including an incredible 19 of 40 from behind the three point line. That equals shooting 65% from the field. They normally have a 56% efficiency rating on shooting. So, they were hot.

If your opponent shoots that percentage for an entire game, you are going to lose.

Conversely, the Cavs’ “Big Three”, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love combined to make just 11 of 32 shots, which is 34%. Those guys were cold.

If you combine hot shooting from your opponent, and the Cavs normally allow their opponents to shoot 44%, and poor shooting from your best players, you are probably going to get blown out.

And that’s what happened.

Also, keep in mind Cleveland played the Warriors on Christmas Day in Oakland, and lost by six. We were encouraged by this game because the wine and gold again demonstrated the ability to control the tempo, which is needed vs. Steph Curry and his crew.

On Monday, the Cavs started the game missing shots which allowed the Warriors to get out in transition and they made early threes, mostly by Klay Thompson, who Cleveland has kept in check since last year’s Finals.

We believe that Blatt and his team know they have to control the tempo, which means some isolation plays, in order to defeat the Warriors.

As for the criticism about the Spurs, yes, the Cavs did get away from what got them the lead, and they paid for it. Hopefully, they will learn from their mistake.

Fans and media alike also have to remember that if Cleveland makes The Finals, they will only have to play one of these two teams. They will not have to defeat both.

And could the wine and gold beat either team in a seven game series? Of course. We have always maintained that in the playoffs, coaches can game plan specifically against what the opposition does well.

In the regular season, there isn’t time to do that.

Also, remember that a year ago, the Cavs were a .500 team and they made a couple of trades, and were one of the final two teams playing.

The point is there is a long, long time to get things together and correct the problems, which are few, that this squad has.

The sky is not falling. The Cavs played a bad game on Monday night. They are still one of the league’s best teams. So, relax…

Stop Obsessing Over Cavs’ Losses

Sometimes, we think Cleveland doesn’t know how to handle it if one of their teams wins.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are proof of just that.

The wine and gold just finished their longest trip of the season, a six game trek in which they won five of the games, yet all anyone wants to talk about is the one they lost, at San Antonio, one of the NBA’s best teams, by four points.

That’s right, four points.

They lost to Golden State, the league’s darlings right now, in Oakland, by six points.

Both losses to these elite teams were by under ten points. And remember, the Cavs defeated Oklahoma City at home by four, without Kyrie Irving.

After the Spurs lost, the media and fans alike started with the age old remedies for the Cavaliers’ “struggles”, such as the coaching of David Blatt, and the play of Kevin Love.

We said this all last season. Whenever Cleveland loses, you can be sure that either Blatt or Love or both will be blamed.

It’s really ridiculous.

First of all, the Cavaliers have the best record in the Eastern Conference by four games over Toronto, and yet have played the least amount of home games of any East contender.

Cleveland has played 16 contests at Quicken Loans Arena. The other teams in the elite four, the Warriors, Spurs, and Thunder, have played 19, 23, and 24 at their arenas, respectively.

We wonder what the records will be when the home/road splits even up for the top four squads in the NBA.

And what would people say if the Cavs had played Golden State and San Antonio at The Q first and won both games, and then lost on the road? We don’t know if David Blatt’s crew will beat either in Cleveland, but what would be the narrative if they had or will?

And let’s remember that outside of the top three teams in the West, so can make a pretty good argument that the East is tougher top to bottom.

As for the criticisms of Blatt and Love, it is getting to be a tired cliche.

Yes, the Cavs sometimes go away from the ball movement they use when they play so well, and it shows up against good teams. However, we don’t believe Blatt tells them to play isolation basketball. It’s the confidence that LeBron James and Kyrie Irving have in their own ability.

Games like Thursday night should remind the team’s two best players they need to move the ball.

Also, the key to playing Golden State is to control the tempo, and the isolation game helps in that regard. So, you will see more of it tomorrow night than you would like, to be sure.

What Blatt and his staff have done is make the Cavs an excellent defensive team. Cleveland ranks second in points allowed and 11th in defensive field goal percentage.

As for Love, he is never going to average the 24 points per game he did in Minnesota with the Cavs. Up north, he was the number one scoring option.

He does average 17.6 points and almost 12 rebounds per night. Is he a great defender? No. But, we will freely admit he can’t stop Tim Duncan near the basket. So, the Cavaliers will have to defend that differently the next time they play the Spurs.

The one thing we will criticize Love for is his shot seems flat right now. He missed several good looks against the Spurs, and for the Cavs to win games like that, they need the former UCLA standout to make open shots.

He has three months to get that straightened out.

Remember, last year at this time, the Cavs were 20-21, and remade their roster with the deals for JR Smith, Iman Shumpert, and Timofey Mozgov.

The point is there is a long way to go for Blatt and his staff to correct the things that need to be smoothed out before the playoffs.

Until then, enjoy the regular season, and stop panicking every time the wine and gold lose a game.

Despite What “Experts” Said, Love Stays With Cavs

Once again, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers have befuddled the national media.

Despite all the conjecture following the playoffs that Kevin Love would never resign with the Cavs because he wanted to be “the man” and get more shots, and his so-called personality conflict with James, the free agent announced he will ink a five-year deal with the wine and gold, and will be here to pursue a title.

Not only that, Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert also re-upped with Cleveland, insuring that the same cast of characters that dominated the NBA entering the playoffs, and survived injuries to key players in the post-season, will be together again for the 2015-16 NBA season.

It was even reported the night before free agency started that Love was going to meet with the Lakers. The four letter network really missed it here, and when it comes to the Cavs, they haven’t been right very often.

We believe that most of these national “insiders” take their own personal feelings into account, and they cannot believe that given a choice, anyone would want to play or work in Cleveland. Therefore, they assume everyone wants out.

As for Love, he had steadfastly maintained all year-long that his intention was to be with the Cavaliers in the upcoming season, and instead of taking him at his word, these people chose to think he was just “saying the politically correct thing”.

And make no mistake, Kevin Love is very important to this team offensively. The Finals should be evidence of that.

With Love on the floor and his ability to shoot the ball, defenses have to account for him, meaning if he is at the three-point line, you have to guard him. This opens up the lane for LeBron James and Kyrie Irving to get to the basket.

Remember against Golden State how the Warriors packed the paint with defenders to stop James? That doesn’t happen with Love on the floor.

James needs to be surrounded by shooters, and against Golden State, he was missing two of his most reliable guys in Irving and Love. The wine and gold were down to J.R. Smith, an ailing Iman Shumpert, Matthew Dellavedova, and veterans James Jones and Mike Miller.

The latter two were not afforded a lot of minutes in the regular season.

Besides that, Love is a very good rebounder, averaging 9.7 per game in the regular season. He might be the team’s second best rebounder behind only Thompson.

And he’s not as bad of a defender as he showed earlier in the year. Once GM David Griffin traded for Timofey Mozgov, providing the team with a shot blocking presence, Love’s defense was much better, mainly because he didn’t have to guard centers.

Simply put, he’s one of the best players in the NBA, surely among the top 25 players in the game. And he’s committed to stay with Cleveland for five more seasons.

So, the national media will have to deal with the fact that the Cavs aren’t going anywhere. They will be making deep playoff runs annually with James, Irving, and Love.

They just don’t get it. One more reason you shouldn’t believe anything they have to say regarding the Cleveland Cavaliers.

No Excuse, Cavs’ Injuries to Love, Irving Are Fact

We are sure that LeBron James will get criticized for speaking the truth after the deciding game of the NBA Finals, mostly because he gets picked on for pretty much everything he does.

James pointed out that the Cavs didn’t have good luck in the health department on their side, losing Kevin Love in the fourth game of the first round series vs. Boston, and Kyrie Irving also missed the bulk of the post-season, including the last five games of The Finals.

In a series where the Cavs struggled to find anyone who could shoot from outside consistently, the absence of Love and Irving, both players who can most definitely shoot, sticks out like a sore thumb. Or shoulder and knee if you will.

For the regular season, Cleveland shot 36.7% from behind the three-point line, and in The Finals, they shot 29%. Now, we agree that there would be some decrease in that percentage in the playoffs due to the stepped up defense.

As a comparison, Golden State’s percentage on long distance shots dropped from 39.8% in the regular season to 36% in The Finals, a drop of almost four percent. The Cavaliers drop was double what the Warriors’ was.

There can’t be a question that having Irving and Love on the floor would have made a major difference.

Love’s replacement, Tristan Thompson, played marvelously in the playoffs, but he’s not an offensive threat outside of the paint. There is no need to guard him away from the basket.

In terms of shooting, some of the shots Love would have had were taken by James Jones, and he hit only 4 of 13 from long distance in the series. There is no question, Love would have helped Cleveland both in spacing the floor and in making shots.

As for Irving, his shooting from outside and his creativity around the basket would have added a different dynamic to the Cavalier offense. His replacement, Matthew Dellavedova, a gritty defender who did a good job on Stephen Curry (so good that the league MVP in the regular season didn’t receive a single vote as MVP of The Finals), made only 6 of 26 three-point shots (23%) and doesn’t drive to the hoop nearly as well as Irving.

It’s not an excuse, it’s a fact.

And it’s a fact ignored by several national media people who were exposed as trolls for constantly saying that LeBron James was a one man team during these finals.

He was, but only because two of the Cavaliers’ starters, and not just starters, but current and former all-stars were unable to play due to injury.

The insinuation is that the Cavs’ management can’t put a decent team around the best player in the sport. The reality is they did, but a couple of freak injuries took their toll on the roster and forced David Blatt to shorten his rotation.

Which leads to another point. Blatt is portrayed as a coach that doesn’t use his bench because he played really just seven players in The Finals. However, with Irving and Love in the mix, he would have played nine guys.

The Cavaliers played the way they played at the end because it was the only way they could compete. And they got within two games of an NBA title.

It’s too bad the national media came late to the party and didn’t see how they played when James had Love and Irving at his side. In the last 35 games they played together, Cleveland was 32-3.

That’s why you should be optimistic heading into the off-season.

James will get criticized, because that’s what these guys do. He is in the middle of the cycle where he has been around so long, people pick on him.

In a few years, he’ll be the elder statesman, and will go back to being loved.

After the game, he was honest. That’s the best policy.