Lue keeps Cavs on even keel
CLEVELAND — Moments after the NBA Eastern Conference championship banner was raised by the Cavaliers for the third straight time and the postgame interviews ended, Tyronn Lue slipped quietly away.
Cleveland's coach ducked into the shadows, his preferred location.
"I don't like the attention," he said.
But Lue, a former
journeyman point guard who steered the Cavs to an NBA championship last season, has grown more accepting of his frontman role. He'll again be at center stage this week as Cleveland meets Golden State in the third installment of their title trilogy.
If the unassuming Lue had his preference, the teams would duke it out for the Larry O'Brien Trophy on a playground court, with only a handful of onlookers present. A student of the game, he's old- school with a fresh perspective.
Of the many juicy subplots between the Cavs and Warriors, one that frequently goes overlooked is Lue, the former assistant who has blossomed in no time into one of the league's brightest young coaches and a playoff savant.
He's 28-6 in two postseasons with Cleveland. His players credit Lue's steady influence on and off the floor as vital to their success.
"It's just his level of calmness no matter what's going on," LeBron James said after a practice. "He always talks about, at the end of the day, he's already won in life, so whatever else happens after this is extra credit. And I feel the same way. That's why I relate to him so much."
Lue has been preparing for the biggest battle of his basketball career this week.
From the moment he returned home from Boston after the Cavs' win in Game 5 of the conference finals, Lue has immersed himself in the Warriors, a virtual All- Star team featuring two league MVPs (Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry), a dead-eye shooter (Klay Thompson) and a triple- threat performer (Draymond Green).
Lue's defensive strategy to this point in the playoffs has been to neutralize the opponents' top player. The Cavs were able to do that with Indiana's Paul George, Toronto's DeMar DeRozan and Boston's Isaiah Thomas, who aggravated a hip injury in Game 2 and missed the remainder of the series. Cleveland blitzed, double- teamed and did all it could take away the other team's offensive threat.
There are few weaknesses in these Warriors, the first team to head into the final round 12-0 and winning by an average of 16.3 points per game.
The Cavs know Lue won't panic.
He stayed cool last spring when Cleveland fought back from a 3-1 deficit to win its first title. Lue made subtle tweaks to his rotation, drew up key inbounds plays, then isolated Kyrie Irving late in Game 7 on Curry. The Cavs All- Star guard made his now famous go-ahead, step-back three- pointer.
As postseason pressure intensifies, Lue stays composed, setting the tone for his players.
"Throughout the postseason there's so many different emotions," James said. "Going high, going low. And if you're a coach able to just stay evenkeeled throughout the whole thing, it relaxes the rest of the group."
Lue is a stickler for detail, and he won't cut any corners preparing for the Warriors. He'll have the Cavs ready, and they can also count on him to keep them relaxed.
"When you're prepared and you do the best you can do and you put it out there on the floor, you've just got to live with the results," Lue said. "I'm doing my homework, I'm doing every possible thing to put this team in every situation to win. When you're doing that, things you go over every day, end-of-game plays and things like that, either they work or they don't."