Cavaliers embarrassed by Bulls in Tyronn Lue's coaching debut 96-83
BY STONE LEXINGTON
CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER
The Saturday night against the Chicago Bulls, Tyronn Lue made his debut as the Cleveland Cavaliers new head coach. Lue’s debut, however, didn’t end the way he hoped.
The Cavs fell to the Bulls 96-83 in Quicken Loans Arena, also falling to 0-2 against Chicago this season. The loss was just the Cavs’ third in The Q this season.
“Today was hard game for me to gauge because it was the first game and just caught up in the moment,” Lue said not putting much stock into the loss. “It’s a little different six inches over, but it felt good.”
LeBron James finished one assist shy of a triple-double, totaling a game-high 26 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. J.R. Smith chipped-in 18 points and 11 rebounds, his first double-double of the season.
After trailing by as many as 17 points in the third quarter, Cleveland battled back to cut the Bulls lead to an 86-78 margin on two Smith free throws with 2:05 to play in the fourth quarter. Yet, on the Bulls next possession, Chicago power forward Taj Gibson converted a three-point play with a layup and a free throw that pushed the Bulls’ lead back to double-digits. A Gibson jump shot less than a minute later was the knockout blow and put Chicago up 91-78 with roughly a minute remaining.
“For the most part, I thought our guys competed,” Lue said. “I thought we went out and played hard, and we just couldn’t make shots.”
The Cavs downfall Saturday night can be directly linked to their woes at the free throw line. Cleveland shot just 9-for-22 from the charity stripe, while shooting just 37 percent from the floor for the game. Cleveland also shot just 4-for-24 from beyond the arc against Chicago. Where former Cavs head coach David Blatt was known for his offense, Lue is more revered as a defensive-minded coach.
The Cavs promoted Lue to head coach yesterday when Blatt was fired after a season and a half. Blatt was in line to coach the upcoming NBA All-Star Game, but his departure almost ensures that won’t happen. Lue thinks Blatt should still coach the Eastern Conference in the All-Star Game next month if Cleveland still has the best record in the East at the break, but the new Cavs head coach said he would accept the responsibility if Blatt isn’t allowed to coach in the game.
While his debut didn’t go as planned, the Cavs organization believes Lue can lead the team to a championship this season. Lue was previously an assistant under Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers when Rivers was the head coach of the Boston Celtics.
“I’ve been with a few ‘Big Threes’ in my career,” Lue said. “When Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce came together, it was late in their career, so they had to win a championship now. I think with our young stars, with Kyrie and Kevin, they’re young, so it’s still about their brand and different things.
“It’s just way different. I have to get those guys to understand that it’s about winning. Nothing is over winning, so just putting those guys together knowing there’s going to be sacrifice. I have to do a better job of getting those guys to sacrifice.”
Lue has learned from some of the NBA’s best minds, including Hall of Fame head coach Phil Jackson.
“With Phil, I just always learned that he was poised, never got rattled,” Lue said.
After the game with Chicago, Lue said he doesn’t think his players are in good enough shape to play the style of basketball he wants them to play. The Cavs head coach envisions his team playing faster.
“I’ll yell and scream if I have to, but for the most part I want to just let these guys play,” Lue said. “I’m not really worried right now this early about the games. I’m really just worried about our spirit is more important than anything, getting our spirit right, getting our spirit together.
“I thing everything else will take care of itself because we got a lot of great players.”
Lue said he didn’t think the Cavs players were having fun playing basketball under Blatt.
“I don’t think so,” Lue said. “I don’t think they’re enjoying it. That’s a part of my speech (to the team) today. The game will pass you by, no matter how great LeBron is, Kyrie, Kevin. The game will pass you by.”
In Cavs general manager David Griffin’s press conference on Friday, he divulged that the Cavs didn’t “know how to handle prosperity”, while also saying the mood in the locker room after victories was sour. Lue noticed the same unpleasant mood after wins.
“You can’t be mad when you win,” Lue said. “You can’t be mad when you lose. When you win, no matter if you have two points or whatever we win the game, you should be happy.
“I just wanted to talk to our guys about our spirit. We win a game, you can’t be down and mad, disappointed about your shots and your points and things like that.”
Although the Cavs lost in Lue’s debut as head coach, the past 24 hours have been a whirlwind for the Cavs’ new head man.
“It’s been one heck of a ride,” Lue said. “I came into the league playing with Kobe and Shaq, playing for Phil Jackson, playing with (Michael) Jordan. It just has been a blessing. I can’t describe it any other way.
“Things have just always seemed to happen and work out for me. I’m truly blessed and it’s an honor to be here today, outside the loss of coach Blatt. It definitely is an honor to show that people have trust in me to try to get a job done. We have one common goal of winning a championship.”
POSTED 01/24/2016 00:27
Lake County Sentinel
