Lue: Crazy to think I need permission from Love, Irving to bench them
The Cleveland Cavaliers' monumental 25-point, second-half comeback in Game 3 against the Indiana Pacers was surprisingly pulled off without fourth-quarter contributions from Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving.
Head coach Tyronn Lue ran with a five-man lineup of LeBron James, Deron Williams, Iman Shumpert, Kyle Korver, and Channing Frye instead. He kept a group on the floor that was having a great deal of success against the Pacers, and didn't feel the need to sit the hot hands of his second-unit players to accommodate two All-Stars.
It was ultimately Lue's coaching intuition that led him to keep Love and Irving on the bench - a decision that didn't involve him asking the two permission to make sure they wouldn't take issue with not playing during such an important stretch.
"That was the craziest thing I've ever seen," Lue said of undisclosed media coverage implying he needed his player's blessing, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "A grown man asks somebody permission to do something, I never understood that. They always make a story out of something when it comes to us."
Lue admitted to having separate conversations with Love and Irving - who each had 13 points - to keep them engaged in the game, but not to seek their permission.
"In case we need them," added Lue. "In case we need those guys. Checking in on them, making sure they're fine and staying in tune with the game in case we need them. But to ask permission is stupid.
"It wasn't about Kyrie or Kevin. It was about D-Will, Korver, and Channing and how well they played. They were playing great, that unit was going well, and Kevin and Kyrie, they understood. No, I didn't ask those guys for permission to sit them out, but I did want to keep those guys engaged just in case we needed them down the stretch, because D-Will played, I think, 15 or 16 minutes straight. Kyle Korver played 15 or 16 minutes straight ... so just considering the game and how it was going, just had to check on those guys and make sure they stayed engaged into the game in case we did need them."
The Cavaliers lead the series 3-0 and can close out Indiana with a Game 4 win Sunday afternoon at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.