CLEVELAND, Ohio — In NBA circles, Game 1 of a playoff series is often described as a “feel out” game.
A new glimpse of usually somewhat familiar opponents, with new wrinkles and a fresh best-of-seven intensity.
But what about Game 2? Is there a similar moniker we can provide to the second matchup?
As the Cavs showed on Wednesday in their 121-112 win over the Miami Heat, taking a 2-0 series lead in the process, Game 2 should be called the “no-overreaction game.”
“I guess it’s a little bit different, right?” head coach Kenny Atkinson said before the game. “Because you kind of know, you saw how they’re playing us, how we’re playing them and there is not as much feel out.
“It’s kind of like, OK, we’re going to switch, we’re going to change the lineup? Are we going to play different pick and roll coverage? There’s a lot of things you could do. So I think it’s more, you’re going to react to what happened in the first game, but not overreact. You still got to focus on what you’re doing and what you think you have to do to beat them.”
Not overreacting to the highs and lows of one playoff game is all part of a larger strategy.
It’s really just one chess move, as I was reminded pregame by former Cavs head coach and broadcaster Mike Fratello.
“It’s moving the pieces,” Fratello told me. “But it’s about how many pieces do you want to move (right now)?”
In Game 1 against the Heat, a 121-100 Cleveland win, the Cavs led for all but 35 seconds.
It was obvious that the Heat, with one of the best postseason tacticians in the league in head coach Erik Spoelstra, would find a way to hit back Wednesday.
But the Cavs knew they still didn’t need to move too many of those pieces — at least not yet. Plenty can remain under wraps for now, and change when it needs to — later this series, or ideally, the conference semifinals, conference finals, or NBA Finals.
No need to give everything away this early.
Coming into this Game 2, there was no need to reinvent the wheel, and Atkinson continued with his 10-man rotation for now.
There was no panic over the involvement of their posts Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. As Donovan Mitchell (30), Ty Jerome (28) and Darius Garland (27) all took over the offense on Sunday, the Cavs weren’t trying to force unnecessary looks inside three days later.
Mobley did get involved early in Game 2, scoring 10 of his 20 points in the first half, after only scoring nine total in game one. Allen had a more muted nine-point, eight-rebound stat line, but it’s important to note the duo still had the brunt of the grunt work, trying to contain Miami’s Bam Adebayo. The three-time All-Star was held to 11 points (but grabbed 14 rebounds) in 42 minutes.
Instead of overcorrecting, it was getting everyone involved in the second quarter that let Cleveland pull away.
Thanks to immaculate ball movement, the Cavs got hot from deep after maintaining a 25-24 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Cleveland nailed 11 of 16 3s in the quarter, including 10 of their first 13. Max Strus went 3 of 3 in the quarter, while Mitchell, De’Andre Hunter, and Sam Merrill all hit two apiece.
The result was a “Cavalanche,” complete with fake snow floating down from the rafters of the arena, as the Cavs led by as much as 19.
That early run allowed them to withstand a late push from Miami, as the Heat pulled to within as close as two points in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Cavs 32-28 over the last 12 minutes.
But the reality is, the Cavs still didn’t need to change much in this game. They didn’t need to move many pieces on their chessboard. They largely remained themselves. And it’s what got them their second victory in this series.
And that kind of strategy is going to keep them in the long game.
