FanPost

What's it gonna take

Trying to tame my pre-game jitters by thinking of ways we can win, even if the Cavs bring their A game. In no particular order, here are things I think we're going to have to do:

  1. Rebound. We have to at least hold our own on the boards
  2. Defend the perimeter. Hold the Cavs to under 6 wide open looks from three. If they shoot and make contested ones, we can live with that. I hope. See item 5.
  3. Take care of the ball. Single digit turnovers.
  4. Hit a high percentage of our mid-range shots. I know, I know, we're not supposed to be taking long twos, but they've been giving us pull-up 15 footers and we've been missing them way too much. If you're going to take it, make it. Honestly, they are shots that should go in a high percentage of the time. Stop feeling guilty, and make the shot. If you're that close to the hoop, it's not a long two. Is a 15 foot jumper really harder to make than a contested layup?
  5. Hit at least as many 3 pointers as you allow. A lot of luck plays into this one, but we're going to need some luck. I won't count LeBron James fall away threes, but we need to match the rest.
  6. Be active on defense. Very, very active.
  7. Be unpredictable on defense, at times. Take some risks. Keep giving them different looks. We need to keep them guessing.
  8. Draw some fouls. Whether you make the layup or not, we need to make the Cavs think twice about trying to block every shot at the rim. They are letting us into the paint, and then contesting hard at the rim, and it has worked. Either pull up and MAKE the shot from 10 to 15 feet, or get to into their bodies at the rim.
  9. Don't miss uncontested layups. Do I really have to say it? Yup. Guess so.
So, that's a lot of things, and maybe we don't need to hit 100% of them, and maybe I've left out the most important ones. Still, just listing them out has been therapeutic. Thanks for letting me vent.

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