The Point Four-ward: Basic Instinct

Four points I’m thinking about the Cleveland Cavaliers…

1.) Following an uneven stretch of play by the Cavaliers, one that allowed the Hawks to come back from an 18 point deficit and briefly take the lead in the fourth quarter on Monday night, a familiar feeling crept back over the Cavs’ faithful. The Cavs, no matter the lead, seem incapable of winning easily. Marla Ridenour, writing for the Akron Beacon Journal, put it this way:

The Cavaliers’ lack of killer instinct, an issue all season, didn’t cost them in their first-round sweep of the Detroit Pistons. But Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Quicken Loans Arena was another matter.

The Cavs’ 104-93 victory served as a wake-up call that overconfidence in the postseason could mean a much earlier exit than expected for the conference’s top-seeded team.

Whether it’s the case that the Cavs have a tendency to take their foot off the pedal or that the Hawks — a high quality opponent — figured out how to stop their own bleeding long enough for Dennis Schroder’s career evening to push them back far enough that they could catch the scent and imagine what a win on Cleveland’s home court might taste like, none of the Cavs’ first five playoffs games have come without some decidedly rough patches.

2.) If you’re looking for the positive spin on this, you’d say that each of the games has been “competitive,” with the Cavs wearing the target and taking the best shot from representatives of an improved Eastern Conference. You’d say that the Cavs’ mettle is being tested and they are becoming a stronger team for having taken hard shots to the body and rattling jab to the jaw from the Pistons and now the Hawks (a bit too literally so, where the Pistons were concerned) and emerging victorious.

But, yeah, you could just as easily say that the Cavs should have been able to pull away at some point (before the waning moments) of, at least, one of these games. And that… that hasn’t happened.

Of course, the Cavs haven’t needed a killer instinct. Not yet, anyway. They’ve found a way to emerge on top of each of these five contests. The Cavs have been fantastic at closing out games. Maybe, being clutch — being ice cold and methodical at exactly the point where your opponent starts making mistakes — maybe that is a kind of killer instinct too.

Of course, a team headed by LeBron James want to be known as Killer Klutch. Wouldn’t it?

3.) It was encouraging to see James cop to his own role in the Hawks’ comeback during his postgame interview on TNT. For the myriad of reasons that the Cavs stalled and the Hawks soared during that stretch, the thing that stood out to me watching the game at home was how several of James’ passes, usually so pin-point precise, were getting picked off by the Hawks and leading to easy points on the other end.

James admitted that turnovers cost the Cavs in the second half and that he accounted for a few of them.

For the game, James turned the ball over four times. That is, by no means, his worst job protecting the basketball, but those four turnovers did lead the team. In fact, it accounted for half of the teams total of eight turnovers for the game. So, as a team, the Cavs are continuing to take care of the ball during the playoffs, which is a great sign.

But three of James’ four turnovers came off passes made between the nine minute mark in the third period and the nine minute mark of the fourth, exactly the period when the Hawks made their run. Each one of those turnovers got the Hawks out running and really stood out as some of the poorer decision-making during that stretch.

4.) On further review, though, only one of those three turnovers led directly to Atlanta points on the other end. The meat of the turnover sandwich — the second of the three James made in the second half — led to a Paul Millsap slam-wich on the other end. The Hawks were unable to convert off James’ first and third second half turnovers… though the third came during one of the game’s more ugly sequences.

In the midst of a 24-7 Hawks run, James took a pass from Kyrie Irving and drove toward the left block. James jumped and tried to kick it over to Kevin Love, who had popped out, ready to receive the pass and launch a three from the right corner. That pass was picked off by Kent Bazemore, who raced to the other end and found Schroder beyond the arc. Schroder’s shot clanked the front of the rim, eventually ending up in Korver’s hands. James fouled Korver and the resulting inbounds play ended with Schroder attempting a step-back three over Irving. James snagged the rebound and launched a beautiful outlet pass to a streaking Love who laid the ball up softly… only to have it swatted away by Millsap.

If there was any sequence that should have woken up James and the Cavs, this was it. Luckily, it did.