Lue: Cavs need to feed Love in post when offense stalls

The Cleveland Cavaliers nearly blew a 20-point lead against the Orlando Magic on Thursday night, less than a week after blowing a 22-point advantage to the Indiana Pacers.

In the pair of games, the Cavs had a monster first half at the offensive end before getting gummed up after the break and scoring just 37 points in the second half.

After the Cavs narrowly avoided another catastrophe against Orlando that would've meant a fifth straight loss, head coach Tyronn Lue said he wants to see his team keep things simple, and utilize Kevin Love when their offense starts to stall out.

"Post the basketball," Lue told reporters. "I know Kevin is playing the five and sometimes he has fives guarding him, but we still got to be able to get him touches and involve him in the game.

"I thought tonight he was great defensively, but we didn't use him as much as we should have. But he still played through the game, and I thought he was great. But even in those offensive lulls, we got to still post him against fives and just see what he can do down there."

Love's usage rate (26.2) is almost identical to what it was last year, but earlier in the season, when the Cavs had a void at point guard, the offense ran through him far more frequently. Before Isaiah Thomas returned from injury, Love was using 27 percent of the Cavs' possessions. Since Thomas returned, that number is down to 21.8 percent. Before Thomas returned, Love was getting 5.1 post-ups and 56.9 touches per game. Since, he's getting 3.1 post-ups and 47.5 touches.

It may be a coincidence that the Cavs' offense as a whole has scored 7.5 fewer points per 100 possessions since the rotation shakeup, but Lue doesn't seem to think so.