2018 NBA Playoffs: 8 X-Factors to keep an eye on in the first-round
By David Early
George Hill, Cleveland Cavaliers
LeBron James has been successful with some of the weirdest lineups over his career. He’s been that good. Boobie Gibson, Donyell Marshall, Richard Jefferson, Matthew Dellavedova have all played critical roles on finals runs lead by James’ greatness. Without Kyrie Irving in Cleveland, the Cavaliers need George Hill to step up in a very bad way.
Hill has always tantalized with his ability. Not so much as a playmaker, although he’s capable of that, but because of his defense and shooting. Limited by injuries, both historically, and recently, he’ll need to recover and string together some critical stretches for this team to help maintain James’ streak of consecutive Finals appearances.
He’s made 27 of 77 from 3, at 35 percent since joining the Cavs. They’ve been 4-1 when he doesn’t play and 15-9 when he does. They haven’t completely clicked yet since he’s arrived. His best game was a 10-11 FG performance against The Raptors, perhaps some foreshadowing for the second round of the playoffs.
First though, he’ll have a “revenge” series against his former team, Indiana in the first round. And then a chance to try his hand at limiting Toronto’s All-Star point guard, Kyle Lowry; the player they most need him to step it up against. If Cleveland advances to the Conference Finals, it will probably be because George Hill has a monster series on the defensive end against Toronto and knocks down big shots when they cheat off of him.
Oh, and if the Cavs don’t make the Finals? LeBron might very well leave and George Hill could be back to professional tutoring for draft picks like he was in Sacramento a few months ago. No pressure Georgey boy…play a critical role in your first NBA Finals, or you’ll be an overpaid vet-mentor for Trae Young next season, up to you.