Different game. Same result.
The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t know what hit them Sunday night, going down 0-2 against the Golden State Warriors in the first two games of the 2018 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena. The Warriors held court and it’s now time for the Cavs to hold serve at the Quicken Loans Arena when the series shifts to Cleveland, Ohio on Wednesday.
If the Cavaliers want to make this a series, coach Tyronn Lue has to do a better job than playing into the hands of the Warriors; who dictated the tempo in Game 2. The lopsided 122-103 win underscored the Cavs’ need for a more varied offense, one that can easily be installed but highlights his team’s strengths.
Otherwise, this year’s Finals will be shorter than the 2017 version, which ended in five games with Golden State winning the series handily at 4-1.
Perhaps what Lue needs is a template for how to overcome the odds when your team has only one superstar and the rest are role players. Yes, despite Kevin Love’s All-Star appearances, he’s pretty much been playing like a good role player in these playoffs.
The 1993-94 Houston Rockets
During the 2015 NBA Finals, I was a writer for King James Gospel and one of the pieces that I wrote then was how the Cavs could win the series against virtually these same Warriors team without Kyrie Irving and Love in the lineup at the time. Irving was lost for the series after an injury he suffered in Game 1 of the Finals while Love had an injured shoulder which occurred much earlier in the playoffs and was out for the rest of the postseason.
In that piece, I wrote how the Cavs can draw inspiration from the 1993-94 Houston Rockets on how to beat the Warriors. That holds true now as much as it did then. The Rockets were led by a single future Hall of Famer at the time, similar to how the Cavs are built in 2018.
The Rockets had Hakeem Olajuwon, who was playing better than ever. In the 1994 Finals, Olajuwon averaged 26.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals, and 3.9 blocks. He and the Rockets faced off against Patrick Ewing and his New York Knicks, who were determined to win the championship that year after years of frustration trying to get past Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.
After Jordan retired the first time in October of 1993, the window was left open for the Knicks to barge into the Finals and they did so following a seven-game series against Scottie Pippen and the Bulls.
Ewing had a fellow All-Star on the team named John Starks. The same player who has had his playoff dunk from the baseline over Jordan and Horace Grant repeatedly being shown in NBA playoff highlights. Ewing also had rugged rebounders Charles Oakley and Anthony Mason, as well as steady veterans Derek Harper and Charles Smith.
Though these Knicks are nowhere near the Warriors in terms of firepower, their tough defense made them a team to be feared, nonetheless.
On the other hand, Olajuwon had a supporting cast that was not as talented as the 7-foot center, but they had come through for him during crucial moments in big playoff games. Kenny Smith, Vernon Maxwell, and Sam Cassell formed the Rockets’ solid guard rotation. Mario Elie, Robert Horry, Otis Thorpe and Carl Herrera took on frontcourt duties for Houston along with Olajuwon.
As you can see, none of these players surrounding Olajuwon are going to make anyone cringe individually, but collectively, they were potent enough to give ample support to the Rockets’ superstar center.
The Rockets’ Offense
The offense for Houston consisted mainly of Olajuwon playing in the low post where he demands the ball. The ball rotates if he’s double-teamed or if he doesn’t find any opportunities to score on his own. That’s when shooters like Smith, Maxwell, Cassell, Elie and Horry find opportunities to score from the perimeter.
Though it took seven games, even going down 2-3 to the Knicks after five games, the Rockets brought a championship to Houston by anchoring their offense and defense on Olajuwon’s talents.
LeBron and the Cavaliers Offense
LeBron James has been the lone superstar for the Cavs who has made an impact on this series so far. Despite Love’s series averages of 21.5 points and 11.5 rebounds, he is shooting a subpar 42.1 percent from the field, including 25 percent from beyond the arc. Needless to say, James needs help as he appears to be the only player that is consistently striking fear into the hearts of the Warriors and their fans.
After two games, James is averaging 40.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 10.5 assists to go along with 1.5 steals per game in the Finals. That scoring average was bolstered by a 51-point outing in Game 1, the highest points ever scored by a player in a losing effort in the championship round.
For the fourth straight year, James is playing better than ever but the Cavs have yet to win a game in this series.
James and Olajuwon
In the 2011 Finals, after the Miami Heat lost to the Dallas Mavericks largely due to James’ poor play, he had private workouts with Olajuwon in the summer to work on his post game.
That may be the biggest offensive adjustment that the Cavs need to employ against the Warriors — since no one on the opposing team can guard James consistently well when he’s in the posting down low. In fact, he can set up shop in the mid-post, too, where he can utilize his fallaway jumper, the one weapon which dumbfounded the Toronto Raptors on their home court in Game 2 of the Eastern semis.
In the past two games, James has rarely, if ever, orchestrated the Cavs offense from the post, something that he may need to do more often in the coming games.
The 2015 Finals
When James played a lot in the post in 2015, the Cavs won two of the first three games. Had it not been for the adjustment made by Warriors coach Steve Kerr to start Andre Iguodala, the series could have gone the Cavs’ way. But Kerr’s brilliant ploy in the middle of the series worked so effectively that it stymied the Cavs’ offense, forcing the team to go small since former center Timofey Mozgov couldn’t keep up with the smaller players he was guarding.
But the Cavs have better personnel now and can go small without being left in the Warriors’ dust.
For the Cavs to have a chance against the Warriors, they need to take a page from the Rockets. They can’t keep initiating their offense simply by letting James play from the outside and drive his way to the basket. They need more variety to keep the Warriors guessing.
The Cavs can use James in the low post, like the Rockets used Olajuwon, and force the Warriors to double-team him since he’s practically unguardable from that position.
If he plays with his back to the basket more often, and the Warriors double him, he is capable of dishing the ball out to the Cavs’ gunners and no one finds open shooters quite like James.
The Rockets initiated their offense through Olajuwon, making him the number one option but definitely not the only option.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CBSLO-Dffo
Hall of Famers Implore James to Play in the Low Post
I think it was Charles Barkley — who said it during an episode of TNT’s Inside the NBA — that he wants to see James play more in the post. If there’s anyone who knows how playing in the post helps facilitate the offense and make his teammates play better, it’s the 6-foot-6 Barkley.
Though he knows the odds are in the Warriors’ favor, Barkley said then that he is actually rooting for Cleveland to win. No predictions from him this time, however, as he has learned from experience not to bet against James during the Cavs’ improbable 2016 championship.
As every basketball fan knows, after going down 3-1, the Cavs won the next three games of the series.
Playing in the post not only maximizes his teammates’ talents, it also keeps James in position to grab more offensive boards for putbacks or to restart their offense, giving them more possessions. Against a team like the Warriors, the more possessions you have, the better your chances of keeping the score below 100.
Lue has to implement an offense that gets the ball to James in the most efficient spots on the floor, whether that’s from the low or the mid-post.
The 6-foot-8, 260-pound forward can play power forward in this situation, where he is surrounded by shooters who can make defenses pay for double-teaming him.
Even recent Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady agrees that James should play more with his back to the basket. In an episode of ESPN’s The Jump, McGrady spoke about the need for the three-time Finals MVP to play more down low after Cleveland fell into an 0-2 hole in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics just a few weeks ago.
“I think saying that he can’t do it is, no, it’s not true,” McGrady told Rachel Nichols of ESPN and current NBA player Jason Terry. “He can do it. Why won’t he do it is another question and I don’t know. We’ve seen it in the last game where he got on the post and he scored every single time and it was easy. It’s like Kobe [Bryant] said, you reserve yourself as far as expending energy when you’re out on the perimeter.
“If you’re in the post, it’s easier for him to see the defense, less dribble, less work to score, put pressure on the defense and also it’s physical so you can get these guys in foul trouble.
“I don’t know why he doesn’t do it consistently. I want one game where LeBron has 85 percent of his offense on the post. He would be amazed of what really comes out of that. Not only will he be efficient, but to see the defense and have his guys on the perimeter, how they operate, him passing that ball out of the post will be phenomenal to watch.”
“Either the mid-post or the elbow, LeBron would have a field day operating in those two spots of getting to the basket and being able to see the defense,” McGrady added.
Play James By Utilizing His Gifts
The Cavs don’t need to play James in the post all the time, but they at least need him to vary his attacks to keep defenses from guessing what to do whenever they have the ball. They have become too predictable for the Warriors defense which feasts on stagnant offenses.
And even if Cleveland plays James in the post 70 percent of the time, not only will he be more effective, he’ll also be efficient as operating from the mid-post, low-post or at the elbow, as McGrady suggests later in the video, helps him conserve his energy. He can play 48 minutes if he needs to by “resting” his body from all the pounding he receives by driving down the middle at full speed at almost every turn.
The Rockets Template Works
Lue can take a page from Olajuwon and the 1993-94 Rockets, who are not only a champion team to be admired, but also a model of efficiency on how to beat a team by playing to their strengths. James is already a very good low post player. He just needs to take advantage of his varied skills and use them judiciously.
The Rockets have the template. All the Cavs need to do is study, practice and apply it in the coming games. After all, Olajuwon knows that it works since it gave him and the Rockets back-to-back titles in the nineties.
If the Cavs take my advice (and T-Mac’s and Barkley’s, for that matter), there’s no doubt that they will be celebrating more than a few wins in the series. In fact, they just might win the 2018 championship altogether.
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