The chess match continues.
Three halves after the Golden State Warriors sent Andrew Bogut to the bench in favor of Andre Iguodala, the Cleveland Cavaliers have responded in kind.
Down 51-50 at the half of Game 5 on Sunday, Cavs head coach David Blatt opted to start J.R. Smith for the third quarter in place of Timofey Mozgov. That gave the Cavs a lineup that matched size with the Warriors - Tristan Thompson and Draymond Green were the respective centers - and provided additional shooting around LeBron James, who had been masterful in getting teammates involved early.
Smith rebounded from what he called a "horseshit" performance to start the series, shooting 5-of-11 in the first half and 4-of-10 from outside on his way to 14 points. Those numbers do his marksmanship a disservice, as Smith fired up half-court heaves to end each quarter, so he was essentially 5-of-9 shooting in the general function of the offense.
The Cavaliers outscored the Warriors by seven points in Smith's 17 first-half minutes, quite the reversal from the first four games of the series. Sending Mozgov to the bench gave up on a serious rebounding edge the Cavs have enjoyed in the serious with a Thompson-Mozgov frontcourt, but it was something Blatt was willing to sacrifice to have another shooter on the floor.
"I felt we needed to respond to the last game" Blatt said after the game, while also promising that Mozgov would be used again in the series. "I thought for the most part, our guys did it well and handled it well."
Blatt is within his rights to make changes, but this gambit didn't pay off in the second half. Smith went cold with an 0-of-4 mark from outside, getting held scoreless after the break, and the Cavs were outscored by 13 points in his 19 second-half minutes. Mozgov, meanwhile, only played 4:28, and Cleveland was out-rebounded 23-17 in the half.
It's unclear where Cleveland goes from here. They don't have the depth or manpower to change their actual rotation much, so it's a matter of using the eight players they trust more effectively.
That's far easier said than done, and Blatt wasn't forthcoming with answers in his dispirited post-game media availability. They have one day to figure it out, as Game 6 goes Tuesday in Ohio.
