Tyronn Lue is wrong and that’s OK
The Golden State Warriors are not as hard to defend as the Isaiah Thomas-less Boston Celtics according to Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue.
Tyronn Lue has accomplished a lot in his short time as an NBA head coach. Sure, fans will always remember him as the guy that Allen Iverson stepped over, but he’s started a new chapter in his career. In just a year and a half, he’s won arguably the most improbable championship in league history and he’s close to competing for another one.
Lue has the difficult task of coaching LeBron James. While James is probably the most incredible talent the NBA has ever seen, he isn’t easy to manage. Just ask any of his previous coaches.
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The Cavaliers’ head coach is in his first full season as Cleveland’s leader. Part of what makes his job difficult is finding ways to motivate his players. The Cavs, more than any other team in the league, like to coast. Even during the Eastern Conference Finals, they seem to take their foot off the pedal.
Lue and the Cavs know that they can and will beat Boston. Unless James and Kyrie Irving miss the bus to the arena, they will close out the series. Then it’s onto Golden State.
Once again, Cleveland will be overmatched. They will need to find a way to win the psychological battle. Last year, it came in the form of James taunts on Stephen Curry and pushing Draymond Green’s buttons. It worked and they won.
This year, they’ll need to get a little more creative especially with Kevin Durant in the mix. It took a series of unfortunate events for Golden State to let such a lead slip away with a title on the line. The Cavaliers can’t afford to let that happen again this year.
It seems like Lue might have taken a little jab at the Warriors. When speaking about Boston’s Isaiah Thomas-less offense, he said that “it’s harder to defend than Golden State’s (offense) to me, as far as the actions and all the running around and all the guys who are making all the plays so it’s a totally different thing.” He later added that everyone’s a threat on Boston.
Well, that’s a lot to take in. A team with missing its best player and leading scorer is harder to prepare for than a team with Curry, Kevin Durant, and the league’s best offense, for Lue. That doesn’t seem right, does it?
Now, I get Lue wanted to emphasize that the Cavaliers are focusing on the task at hand. No matter how little they think of the Celtics, they have to at least pretend that they’re worried about Marcus Smart. It’s the right thing to do if you’re Lue.
I also understand that the Cavs probably prepared for Isaiah Thomas an awful lot. So not having him there means the Celtics will switch their approach up. They managed to steal a game without him. Preparing for one thing and getting another can be tricky.
Still, that doesn’t make that challenge any more difficult than what the Warriors have to offer. There was probably a way to talk about the Celtics without coming up with a hot take like that. Lue knew that it was going to turn some heads.
Lue has gone on record saying that what the Warriors and Cavaliers have is a rivalry, despite James’ best efforts to deny it. It’s fun for both sides to throw subtle jabs at each other as they get ready to fully focus on each other. It’s more than likely that they’ve been watching each other, studying how Durant fits or what Korver is doing.
Lue does not honestly believe that preparing for the Celtics is more difficult than the Warriors. No sane person does. Even if that Boston team did have to switch things up, they just don’t have the talent to really push Cleveland. It’s also important to note that if we’re considering unplanned changes as the ultimate marker of difficulty than the Warriors’ switching out coaches in the playoffs might be a big one.
Surely, this will reach the players. Lue meant to ruffle some feathers and he probably did. That just makes June 1 even more exciting.