Cavaliers stop Pelicans 99-84
BY STONE LEXINGTON
CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER
The effect new Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue has on the team won’t be fully realized until the NBA playoffs arrive in April. In the meantime, Lue is juggling getting his players rest to be ready for the playoffs, while also trying to practice enough so the players can learn his system.
“We can’t do both,” Lue said. “Unfortunately, we have to get the guys rest. Guys are playing 38 minutes a night, and it’s tough to ask those guys come in after a hard fought game and come in and practice at a high level. We’ve been playing everyday or every other day the whole month, so it’s just been tough.
“We’ve only had two full practices, and even in those practices, we weren’t able to do everything we wanted to do and everything we wanted to accomplish. It’s a fine line of getting guys ready to try to play the way we want to play and then also being able to get their rest. So, it’s been tough.”
The Cavs moved to 6-3 under Lue with a 99-84 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans Saturday night in Quicken Loans Arena, in the process pushing their record to 13-5 versus Western Conference opponents this season. The Cavs attempted a staggering 41 three-pointers Saturday night, connecting on 14 of them.
“If we can push it up and we can get our shooters open looks early in the shot clock, we want to take those shots,” Lue said.
Kyrie Irving led Cleveland (36-14) with a game-high 29 points, four rebounds and three assists. LeBron James added 27 points, three rebounds and eight assists, while J.R. Smith chipped-in 20 points, four rebounds and three assists. The three Cavaliers were the only players on the team to reach double-figures in scoring.
When Pelicans forward Dante Cunningham sank a three-pointer with 4:18 remaining in the fourth quarter, New Orleans (18-34) trailed Cleveland 91-84. However, the Pelicans didn’t score another point after Cunningham’s bucket. Smith answered Cunningham’s three-pointer with a bomb from beyond the arc of his own to put Cleveland up 10 points. Solid Cavs defense and atrocious Pelicans offense permeated the game the final four minutes.
“Tonight we only shot seven free throws, 7-for-7,” Lue said. “They did a good job of trying to pack the paint and make us kick it out for threes. I thought we did a good job of finding open guys.”
Since the first of the year, Smith has hit the 2nd-most three-pointers in the NBA (67) as only Stephen Curry entered the night with more made more threes over that stretch. With six three-pointers against the Pelicans, Smith has made at least two three-pointers in 10 consecutive games.
The Cavs were without Kevin Love, who missed the game with a left thigh contusion, suffered the night before against the Boston Celtics. Cavs point guard Matthew Dellavedova also missed the game against the Pelicans due to a sore left hamstring. Lue said both players are day-to-day.
The Cavs pushed their record to 28-6 in their last 34 regular season games against Western Conference opponents, while also extending their home record to 20-4 this season. Cleveland has also won 16 of its last 17 regular season games over the West at The Q.
Pelicans point guard Norris Cole finished with 26 points and five assists, while Anthony Davis added 24 points and 11 rebounds.
Irving, who is trying to regain the form that made him a three-time All-Star, has scored at least 19 points in six straight games. With players currently in and out of the lineup, it will be tough for the team to find the level of continuity it hopes for.
“It’s been tough,” Lue said on getting his team to play the way he wants it to. “Credit to our guys, they’ve been trying to do the right thing. Only having two practices makes it tough.
“We only had two full practices, a lot of games, a lot of back-to-backs, games every other day. So, I want to give these guys credit for trying to do the right thing. I think the most important thing, it has to become habit. You can’t think about how you want to play and say how you want to play, it has to become natural and it has to become instinctive, and we haven’t gotten to that point yet. When times get hard, the game gets hard, we continue to go back to our old self. It’s going to take some time. It’s going to come with practices and kind of molding ourself into the way we want to play.”
POSTED 02/06/2016 22:44
Lake County Sentinel
