2. Making shots
Head coach Tyronn Lue summed up the Cavs’ recent offensive struggles about as simply as possible on Sunday:
“If you don’t make (shots), you can’t score.”
The Cavs haven’t done a good job of that during this slump. Against Indiana they shot just 37-of-86 from the field and 7-of-34 from beyond the arc. Against the Raptors, they were even worse at 34-of-89 and 6-of-26. Against the Timberwolves, they went 37-of-84. To say it was not the best week for the Cavs would be an understatement.
Things were not much better on the offensive end the first time out against the Warriors this season. After going 11-of-25 in the first quarter, Cleveland shot just 17-of-63 for the rest of the afternoon.
As Thomas said, the Cavs will need to use their defense to fuel their offense, especially in transition (to bring it back to point No. 1).
“When we don’t get stops it makes us get in the half court and we get stagnant,” he said on Sunday. “We play isolation basketball, and we gotta do a better job of moving bodies. Even if we do isolate, we have to move bodies and keep guys occupied on the defensive end, on the weak side, on the strong side. I think that’s one thing we have to get better at, we can’t just sit and watch.”
Lue, for what it’s worth, was optimistic on Sunday when he was asked if the team’s shots would start to fall soon.
“They have to, it can’t get any worse,” Lue said. “I know our shooters can shoot the basketball. Just coming home, I think just being back at The Q it will be good for us, where we’re comfortable. We have to be able to make shots and it will start from here tomorrow, so we’ll see.”
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