AUBURN HILLS — The Cleveland Cavaliers can eliminate the Detroit Pistons from the Eastern Conference Playoffs on Sunday night with a victory at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Cavs used an in-bounds play, drawn up by head coach Tyronn Lue and discussed with assistant coach Larry Drew, 10-minutes before Friday night’s Game 3 tipped off.
The play was executed to perfection and ended with Kyrie Irving hitting a three-point shot with no time left on the shot-clock. It lead to aCavaliers 101-91 victory and a 3-0 series lead.
“Me and Larry Drew was playing with it before the game and I said we have to be able to burn them on the counter with this because they are jamming the guy from out of bounds. We just played with it for 10 minutes and came up with something and it’s crazy because that play right there sealed the deal for us that we worked on right before the game,” Lue said at the team hotel on Saturday.
Lue would not disclose the name of the in-bounds play, but acknowledged that he has a book on in-bounds plays that he has accumulated over his coaching career. It’s one of the reasons why the Cavs have a 3-0 series lead over, their rookie head coach has been pulling all the right strings.
The Cavs have gotten a huge contribution from LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. The ‘Big 3′ as they are known has scored 212 of the team’s 314 points in this playoff series.
“All three of them know what each other expects from one another, I think that is the biggest thing. And like I said, our bench has been great and phenomenal too. Like last night wasn’t just about the big three, I thought it was about our whole team collectively,” said Lue.
Kyrie Irving has been a completely different player this series, he has scored at least 20 points in all three games and is averaging 26 points, shooting 52 % on three-pointers.
“I’m not going to ever stop shooting or being who I am. These guys want me to shoot, especially if they’re going under my pick-and-rolls. It’s just continuing to prepare, prepare, prepare and trust my shot, and the regular season didn’t really matter. It’s this season that matters,” Irving said on Friday night after Game 3.
The Cavs have a chance to sweep the Pistons on Sunday with a win and they expect another hostile environment. While sweeping Detroit could give them a little more rest, the most important thing is winning the series. LeBron James’ teams have won 16 straight first round games. He’s seeking his fourth consecutive first round sweep on Sunday.
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