Look for 3’s to go through
Kevin Love wasn’t overly concerned about the Cavaliers deficiencies behind the 3-point stripe in Sunday’s 108-83 blowout loss to the Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
The Cavs missed their first 14 and finished 4-of26 in 3’s for an abysmal 15.4 percent. That “unacceptable” ratio was the tell all stat of the contest. Love was 1-for-4 while LeBron James was 0-for-5.
Love assured the assembled media after yesterday morning’s practice at the Garden that the Cavs will be better from the perimeter tonight. Love’s confidence stemmed from his belief that the Cavaliers had plenty of makeable open looks but the shots didn’t fall.
“They were shots we usually make at a lot higher clip than we shot yesterday,” said Love. “Those were shots where we had a lot of good, open looks at the rim from the perimeter. You have to keep shooting them when they are there. You have to give them credit for their defense but we also have to be better.”
The Cavaliers poor shooting was a departure from their previous 11 playoff games against Indiana and Toronto. The Cavs made 106-of-296 trifectas for a 35.8 percentage, one of the league’s highest in the postseason.
“We’ll go over some things, look at film and definitely make some adjustments,” said Love. “We can look at a number of things and just got to be better in Game 2.”
Guarding Horford
Love and backup center Tristan Thompson are Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue’s weapons of choice for protecting the paint against Celtics power forward Al Horford.
Horford torched the Cavs with 11 of his 20 points in the first quarter and eight straight during a decisive 25-2 run that left Cleveland playing catch up all game.
Despite Horford shooting 8-of-10 from the floor with a pair of treys, Lue believes his guys match up well against the 6-foot-10, 245-pound veteran.
“Looking at the statistics over the last three years with at least 30 possessions by all the guys that guarded Al Horford (and) Tristan is No. 1 in the league defending Al Horford,” said Lue. “That’s a good thing to know.”
Seniors day
Lue used past results to defend his decision to start older veterans Love, James, forward J.R. Smith and guards Kyle Korver and George Hill against the younger Celtics.
“We won seven out of eight and we weren’t going to adjust until someone beat us,” said Lue. “We had played well with that lineup and it got us to this point.”
All the Cavs starters have 10-or-more years of NBA service with James and Korver topping out at 15. The Celts starters have a combined 24 years of service led by Horford’s 11.
Three of the Celtics starters, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier, have a combined six years of NBA experience.
No bets here
Lue was caught off guard when asked about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down all federal laws prohibiting gambling on basketball and other sports.
“Man, why are you trying to get me in trouble?” said Lue. “I don’t know anything about it.”
Lue gave a definitive “no” when asked if a point spread would influence the way he manages a game.