The Cleveland Cavaliers looked downright dominant at times throughout their sweep of the Indiana Pacers in the opening round. The Cavaliers spent a week training for their next opponent and while they had a lot of fun in the gym there were certain areas of concern that head coach Tyronn Lue undoubtedly wanted to address. Here is a look at five areas where the Cavaliers can still improve heading in to the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Fast Starts
The Cavaliers have been one of the best second-half teams in the NBA all season. That trend continued against the Pacers. Cleveland lost the first half by an average of 1.8 points in their four wins over Indiana but beat the Pacers by an average of 5.8 points in the second half. The biggest difference was their defensive dominance in the later two quarters. The Cavaliers survived despite their slow starts, including erasing a 25-point halftime deficit in Game 3 against the Pacers. A stronger start to games could allow Cleveland to play with the lead and really take it to the Raptors throughout round two.
Blitz Pick & Rolls
The Cavaliers allowed Jeff Teague to pretty much do whatever he wanted in the opening round. Teague averaged 17.0 points and 6.3 assists while shooting 48.9-percent from the field. Cleveland will have to make things tougher for Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, who will be even more aggressive against them than Teague. The Cavaliers might want to consider blitzing the ball-handler in this series and use the double-team in an attempt to limit the shot totals they concede.
What’s interesting is that Teague is a decent point guard, but not great, and they made him look quite good. Now they face Kyle Lowry, who has struggled in the playoffs so far, but clearly could benefit from lackluster defense. The Cavaliers shouldn’t have too many problems with Toronto in Round 2. However, if Lowry gets going and plays like an All-Star, this series will be a dogfight. The Cavs would rather avoid that.
Keep Going To Love
Kevin Love has done an excellent job early on in games when Cleveland has run set plays designed to get him the ball. However, the trend in the opening round was that after some early success they tend to go away from Love as the games progress. The Cavaliers will want to make sure they keep going to Love against Toronto in order to force Dwane Casey’s hand and force him to go with a bigger lineup. The Raptors were at their best when Lowry, DeRozan and Powell were on the floor at the same time in the first round. Pushing Love and Tristan Thompson effectively could be the key to forcing Toronto to stay big.
Move The Ball Without LeBron
With LeBron James on the floor against the Pacers, the Cavaliers assisted on nearly half of the team’s baskets. When James went to the bench that number plunged to 16.7-percent. Cleveland will clearly need better playmaking figures without LeBron against the Raptors. While Kyrie Irving must shoulder some of the responsibility he isn’t the only Cavaliers player that needs to step up. Cleveland must do a better job moving the ball around without LeBron and forcing Toronto to try to keep up with them on defense.
Play Big
It wasn’t that long ago that the Cavaliers made noise with their lineup consisting of five players at least 6’7’’ or taller. It could be a good idea to play big again versus the Raptors. The combination of LeBron James, Kyle Korver, Channing Frye, Richard Jefferson and Derrick Williams posted a plus-35.0 rating in 39 total minutes per game this season. Tyronn Lue will likely experiment with same different looks early on against Toronto. It won’t be a surprise if he decides to play big and take advantage of the size he has throughout his lineup. The Raptors have some size but their center and power forward positions – other than Serge Ibaka – have been among their weakest on the roster this season. The Cavs shouldn’t have to worry about getting bullied inside in this particular series.
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