NBA: Cavs: Is Super-LeBron really enough?

The Cleveland Cavaliers have made up for the series against the Indiana Pacers thanks to a feat of strength by LeBron James. However, the fact that things got hot at the end of the game shows that the Cavs are still a construction site.

“He must be much more aggressive,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue declared after his team’s 80:98 opening tie against Indiana Pacers on Sunday as his personal LeBron James. “He must set the tone from the beginning, especially for our many new players.”

No sooner said than done. After acting unusually passively in Game 1, the King started like the fire brigade in the important Game 2. With Fadeaways, layups, free throws and much more, he was the only one to take the first 13-0 lead of the game, scoring all 16 points of his team in the first 6 minutes. No one had managed such an individually strong start in the postseason for 20 years.

He also benefited from a clever lineup change Lues, who took Rodney Hood and Jeff Green out of the Starting Five and with JR Smith and Kyle Korver became significantly smaller and more dangerous to throw. It was the old recipe of teams with LeBron: Give him the ball and put four shooters around him. So in the defense nobody can help away from his opponent and the way into the zone is open.

In the end LeBron scored 46 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists. The Cavs took the lead until the final Buzzer Beater, never lagging behind. So we’re all good in Ohio? Not at all. In the end, the victory was on very shaky legs (more about this later).

More worryingly, as in Game 1, this duel has shown that the Cavs are more dependent than ever on the superhuman performance of James. That they don’t have anyone else to create their own litter and take over the game. And that they certainly have no one to maintain the scoring when the number 23 takes a seat in the bank.

A few examples: Jeff Green is out of the field in the current series at 1/10, Jordan Clarkson has not yet met a single threesome, Love also only meets one third of his throws. James’ passivity in Game 1 was justified by the flower in that he wanted to see who else was capable of taking responsibility. The answer must have caused disillusionment and led to the aforementioned one-man show last night.

And as already mentioned, it was by no means the case that the Cavs would have made the game go smoothly thanks to LeBron’s monster performance. On the contrary: Two lucky circumstances ensured that the runner-up could equalize the series.

Circumstance number one: Victor Oladipo’s foul problems. After a minute he had collected his second foul and was ordered to the bench by coach Nate McMillan for the rest of the quarter. Without the MIP candidate the offense didn’t occur much at first, after a few minutes it was 16:1 for the Cavs and for LeBron.

When Dipo was back on the court in the third quarter, his team came within easy reach again – but just 5 minutes before half-time Oladipo fell for a throwing shot of Love and got his third foul. The whistle was questionable, but it didn’t change the fact that McMillan took his protégé out of play.

In retrospect, the head coach may have been annoyed by this decision. The Cavs expanded their lead in the period that followed, while Oladipo had to stand by and watch. And: He didn’t commit another foul in the rest of the game – a little more confidence from McMillan would have helped, especially since Oladipo was fouled once in his career.

Circumstance number two: Oladipo’s missed chance 30 seconds before the end. At 92:95 from the Pacers’ point of view, he came up with a completely free threesome from the pick and roll, because Korver and Smith hadn’t communicated and both were heading towards Bojan Bogdanovic. Dipo didn’t make the final decision. Otherwise, the first draw since the 0-0 draw would certainly have played a role in the minds of the Cavs players.

“We failed in this posession,” James shouted after him. “We were just lucky in this situation. But I’d rather we defend properly than challenge happiness.” In fact, the Cavs didn’t really defend very well in game 2 – James even found that the intensity was lower than in the game before. 53 percent from the field and 62 Points in the Paint at the Pacers show what he might have meant.

These problems will not be solved by taking Smith and Korver in, even though the latter was surprisingly defensive. Shortly before the end, for example, the Pacers created a mismatch for Turner against Korver, who physically held out and even stole the Big Man’s ball.

However, one thing is certain: for the rest of the play-off, the Cavs should not necessarily rely on the defensive skills of Kyle Korver and the superpowers of LeBron James to win the series against Indiana.