The Cavs Will Be Just Fine – Don’t Worry

The bigs of Detroit made the Cavs an outside shooting team and it worked greatly in their favor with the Cavs scoring just 88 points compared to their normal 108 under Coach Lue. LeBron James struggled the most of any player, tying a season low 12 points on 5-18 shooting to go along with six turnovers. It’s rare to see him struggle like that but it does happen.

Even with all of the struggles the Cavs had they still looked pretty even in the stat category with Detroit besides scoring. Before the game, Stan Van Gundy mentioned one of the keys to winning was stopping the Cavs in transition. They did just that with 8 fast break points.

If the Cavs want to win a Championship I think there are two things that are continuing to stand out that need to be fixed. The first is LeBron James shot selection and role with the offense.

The big difference for LeBron in recent time has been that he does not have the outside shot in his repertoire anymore. I’m not saying he ever had a great one, but this year it’s been painful to watch. His 3-point FG% has declined each of the last four years, going from 40.6% in 12-13 to 27.7% this season.

Of all the people who qualify for 3 point percentage this season, he’s number 107 of 108, just 0.3% ahead of Kobe Bryant for dead last. He also trails third last Russell Westbrook by just under 2%, so there is a decent gap among them. The difference between Kobe and LeBron is that Kobe has taken 336 threes compared to just 202 for LeBron.

The Lakers need Kobe to shoot and do whatever he can for them to have a shot at winning, while LeBron can decide when he wants to shoot a three. In terms of that, LeBron might be the worst outside shooting player in the NBA that qualifies.

His free throw percentage has barely increased this season after declining each of the last four seasons as well. His field goal percentage in his best Cavs season is still worse than his worst season with the Heat.

The Cavaliers rely on LeBron a lot. He averages 19 shots a game for the team. The Cavs are really going to struggle as long as he continues to do that.

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