Irving and James don’t play well together, and the Cavs won’t be able to ignore it in future rounds
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a work in progress.
Despite being the favorites to win the Eastern Conference, LeBron James’ team is still looking for the best version of itself, even through two games in their first-round series with the Pistons.
Still, the Cavs took a 2-0 lead on Detroit with a 107-90 win Wednesday, fighting back from a first-half deficit to put the game out of reach early in the fourth quarter. Shooting better from beyond the 3-point arc (52 percent on 38 attempts) than from inside it (47 percent on 42 shots) is a good way to do that.
But JR smith isn’t going to make seven 3s every game, and you probably don’t want to count on Richard Jefferson to be your team’s highest plus-minus player night in and night out. The Cavs are playing well, yes, but they still have plenty to figure out before they face elite competition this postseason.
There is one thing that has become readily apparent through two games, though: Kyrie Irving and LeBron James don’t play well together.
This was the case before the playoffs started, but it has become even more obvious in the first two games of the playoffs.
LeBron and Kyrie were on the floor together for 27 minutes in Wednesday’s Game 2 win, and Cavs were outscored by five points in that period of time.
Meanwhile, Matthew Dellavedova, the Cavs’ backup point guard, helped swing the game in Cleveland’s favor — he and LeBron were plus-21 in only 17 minutes on the court together.
So far in this series, LeBron and Dellavedova have been plus-33 in 29 minutes. Irving and LeBron have been plus-3 in 58.
The Pistons did their best to shut down LeBron as the Cavs’ main distributor Wednesday — he had 11 assists in Game 1 — and the Cavs adjusted, but it wasn’t their All-Star starting point guard who stood out.
Irving had four assists Wednesday. All setup 3-pointers — three went to Smith, and one went to LeBron, who was left unguarded. There wasn’t much, if any, penetration on the Detroit defense before the passes.
Meanwhile, Dellavedova had nine assists in the contest — eight coming before garbage time. Six of the seven plays involved LeBron, typically as part of a two-man pick-and-roll that collapsed the defense, opening up opportunities for Cavs shooters.
The numbers bear it out: The Cavs would be better staggering Irving and James, but so far there’s been a refusal to do it in earnest. Ty Lue might be able to avoid the truth against the Pistons, who, at one point in the third quarter Wednesday went 5:37 without a basket, and the Cavs might be able to get away with it against the Hawks in the second round, but it’s hard to imagine that the Cavs will be able to continue to play Irving and LeBron together in the Eastern Conference Finals and beyond and win.
The Cavs have a Kyrie Irving problem, but so far, they’re refusing to acknowledge the easy solution.