5 Things the Cleveland Cavaliers Must Improve vs. Indiana Pacers
After storming to a 12-1 record through the Eastern Conference playoffs a year ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers now sit at 1-1 in their first-round series against the Indiana Pacers.
It took a 46-point effort from LeBron James in Game 2 to even make this a tied series heading to Indiana, a stat that should make the Pacers feel pretty good about their overall chances.
As magnificent as he is, James isn't going to drop nearly 50 points every night. He needs help.
The Cavs have already made a lineup change, going from Jeff Green and Rodney Hood as starters to a more familiar pair of faces with JR Smith and Kyle Korver. Defensively, they've thrown a variety of looks at Pacers' All-Star Victor Oladipo, with mixed results.
Playing their first two games since the midseason roster shakeup with 15 (mostly) healthy bodies, this is a Cavaliers team still desperately figuring out who they are and how they want to play. The following five adjustments should help.
Kevin Love's Offensive Spots
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Four years into his Cavaliers career, and yes, we're still talking about how poorly Kevin Love is being used.
We know what he's capable of offensively. He's an excellent three-point shooter with a solid face-up game and a crafty array of moves near the basket. He is also a high IQ passer who doesn't get to operate with the ball in his hands nearly enough.
One of his areas of strength has long been on the elbow, where Love can knock down a jumper or find a cutting teammate on his way to the basket. Opponents have to respect his outside shot, opening up passing opportunities.
Despite this, Love has registered zero elbow touches through the first two games of the series, per NBA.com's tracking data. The rest of the Cavs have 20 combined.
It's not that Cleveland doesn't run others through this area of the court, either. Larry Nance Jr. averaged 4.2 elbow touches per game in the regular season and is at 4.0 a night thus far in the playoffs. He is a fine passer and solid mid-range shooter, but he doesn't come close to possessing Love's overall offensive ability.
In the regular season, Love shot 53.8 percent from the elbow, compared to his overall field-goal percentage of 45.8 percent.
In a series where he's failed to look comfortable (12.0 points, 1.0 assists, 33.3 percent shooting), putting the ball in Love's hands and using him more as a passer and playmaker in the half court should do wonders for him and the rest of the Cavaliers' offense.
Downsize the Rotation
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Head coach Tyronn Lue has used 10 consistent players against the Pacers thus far, or about a player or two more than a typical playoff rotation.
Given this roster is fairly deep, playing 10 initially made sense when figuring out what players/lineups worked. We now have answers.
Let's assume Lue sticks with his Game 2 starting lineup of George Hill, JR Smith, Kyle Korver, James and Love. While there are question marks (Smith's focus, Korver's age/injured foot, James' willingness to play power forward), it's been effective so far. In a limited 16 playoff minutes, this lineup has an offensive rating of 168.7 (!) and a defensive rating of 105.4.
To complete this rotation, Lue need only add Jordan Clarkson, Hood and Nance to the second unit. In doing so, this means a benching for Jeff Green and Jose Calderon after already excluding regular-season contributors Tristan Thompson and Cedi Osman.
Calderon has been great this year in sporadic minutes, and the Cavs' 23-9 record when he starts speaks to his ability to run an offense and hit open threes. The Pacers' guard combination of Victor Oladipo and Darren Collison have already appeared a little too quick and athletic for the 36-year-old to keep up with, however.
Green actually started Game 1 at power forward, going 0-for-7 from the field for zero points. A 1-for-3 performance in Game 2 wasn't much better.
Playing both Green and Nance together off the bench has been a spacing nightmare and resulted in a minus-32.1 net rating in 21 playoff minutes.
It's no surprise Calderon (minus-27.9) and Green (minus-26.8) have the team's lowest individual net ratings as well.
It's time for Lue to stick with his eight best guys and put together effective lineups from there.
LeBron James' off-Ball Usage
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We know how dominant James is with the ball in his hands, but there's a whole other side to the game's best player that can be unleashed.
Given his size, strength and IQ, he is an ideal off-the-ball weapon as well. He can analyze the defense like a running back on an option, setting up his blockers and route to the goal before even getting the ball. Give him a head of steam into the paint, find him with a pass and he's either getting an easy look or going to the line for a pair.
The problem is James is so frequently operating with the ball that these opportunities rarely present themselves.
He's a monster in the pick-and-roll but not in the way you might think. His 1.23 points per possession as a roll man in the regular season were the highest mark of any non-traditional big and ranked 13th overall in the NBA (min. 50 possessions).
He converted 67.3 percent of these shots, good for eighth in the league and higher than that of Giannis Antetokounmpo (59.5 percent) Anthony Davis (53.7 percent) and Karl-Anthony Towns (52.0 percent).
Despite this being such an effective part of his game, only 2.8 percent of James' total offense came as the roll man.
Hill has been an effective ball-handler in the pick-and-roll, and he should be thrilled with the idea of running more off-ball actions for James. Calderon could fill this role as well.
Instead of wearing him down with isolation after isolation, mixing up James' offensive attack points against Indiana will help keep him fresh and the defense off guard.
Increase Ball Movement
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The Cavs have been a far better team all year when they've shared the ball, and the same should hold true this postseason.
Cleveland is 28-7 when it registers 25 assists or more and 13-1 when collecting at least 28, per Basketball-Reference.com. When the team finishes with 20 assists or less, its record falls to 6-16.
With only 15 assists in Game 2's 100-97 win over the Pacers, it marked the first time all season Cleveland had racked up 17 or less and still won. And it took 46 points from LeBron James to make it happen. That's not a recipe for sustained success.
Outside of James, there's a lack of shot creation for others on this roster. Hill averaged just 2.8 assists since coming to Cleveland, and backup point guard Clarkson (1.7 assists) has far worse tunnel vision.
Instead, a concerted team effort must be made to share the ball and help break down the Pacers' tight perimeter defense.
Cleveland is 12th out of the 16 teams in passes made per game (252.0), nearly 100 behind the first-place Boston Celtics. If the Cavs shorten the rotation, it would mean a trio of talented-passing bigs (James, Love, Nance) with unselfish players such as Hill and Kyle Korver on the wing. If Clarkson occasionally gives the ball up in the second unit, that should be enough.
The Cavaliers will never be the NBA's top ball movement squad when led by an isolation-heavy James, but they can certainly be better than what we've seen so far.
Establish a Third Scorer
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When your team has just one player averaging over 12 points per game, it's probably not going to go too far in the postseason.
Such is the case for Cleveland at the moment. James' 35.0 points per game are probably a little too much to ask for a player looking to reach his eighth straight NBA Finals. Yes, Love's 12.0 points per game will go up (if he's used correctly), but that still leaves a third option wide open.
Right now, that role belongs to JR Smith (10.0 points). There was a time earlier this season when his rotation spot was in jeopardy due to poor play (and chicken tortilla soup). At 32, he should not be the third-leading scorer.
This responsibility needs to fall on either Hood (7.0 points), Hill (6.5 points) or Clarkson (4.0 points). All are currently well below their regular-season averages.
"I need to see more out of a lot of guys," Lue said after Game 2, via ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
Hill gets somewhat of a pass here, given his first job is to facilitate offense for James and Love as the team's starting point guard. Assuming Clarkson and Hood continue to come off the bench, they'll have plenty of scoring opportunities available.
James is simply doing way too much of the work now, a strategy that isn't going get Cleveland back to the Finals now or convince the 14-time All-Star to return this offseason.
Greg Swartz covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for Bleacher Report. Stats provided by NBA.com and Basketball Reference unless otherwise noted.
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