2. More Involvement on Offense
Michael Jordan’s recipe for success was always: get teammates involved early, then take over the game late. And that recipe obviously worked.
Smith did not take a shot until there were just over two minutes left in the first half. That’s right, the man who once said:
“Worse come to worst … my motto is, when in doubt, shoot the ball,”
did not shoot the ball until the end of the first half. In fact, he took just three shots in the entire game.
Granted, losing a chunk of skin off your shooting hand is never a good thing, but he needs more looks because when J.R. gets going, J.R. is unstoppable.
And while we’ve discussed how poorly the bench played, they also were not given very many looks at the hoop. Shumpert, Jefferson, Dellavedova and Frye took just eight shots. We can and should criticize them for their play in Game 1, but at the same you can’t contribute if you don’t have the ball.
Irving, Love and James combined to take 60 total shots. They combined for a clip of 38 percent shooting and scored just 66 points on those 60 shots. If not for Irving’s several trips to the FT line, that number is even worse.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team took just 22 shots, shooting 9-of-22, good for 41 percent. Those numbers will not blow anyone away, but at the same time they are solid enough to warrant more opportunities.
No doubt that when it gets down to the final eight minutes or so, the Big 3 needs to be the ones taking shots. But up until then, players like Smith, Frye and Dellavedova need to be given their opportunities as well.
Nobody spreads the wealth like King James, and he, more than anyone else, needs to find ways to do that if the Cavs are going to recover from Game 1.
Next: Limit Turnovers
