Brad Stevens' rotation decisions in Game 5 got the best of Ty Lue

One of the most fascinating subplots of the Celtics' 96-83 victory in Game 5 over the Cavs was the bizarre usage of Kyle Korver by Cavs head coach Ty Lue. The 37-year-old sharpshooter did not play in the first quarter at all and saw the floor for a series-low 19 minutes in spite of being Cleveland's third-best scorer this postseason.

So what exactly kept Lue from waiting until his team was down by 19 points in the second quarter to insert his top 3-point shooter in the game? The decision was strictly matchup based, according to the head coach.

"Well, initially, (Brad Stevens had) been putting [Semi] Ojeleye in, so that's been kind of Kyle's matchup when he comes in the game," Lue explained. "He didn't play him tonight, so it kind of threw us for a loop."

The explanation is a bit of an indictment against Lue's in-game management. While Ojeleye is an ideal matchup for Korver due to the fact that he's not a serious threat on the offensive end of the floor, Korver's scoring abilities have thoroughly outweighed his defensive flaws in this series. 

The 37-year-old has also outplayed starting shooting guard J.R. Smith against the Celtics and is one of the few players that can take some of the scoring pressure off LeBron James. In benching him for the first 14 minutes of the game, Lue helped dig the Cavs into an offensive hole (18 points over first 14 minutes) that they were never able to climb out of.

The troubling thing about Lue's thinking for Cavs fans is that the benching of Ojeleye shouldn't have been viewed as a surprising move by Stevens in a pivotal Game 5. He had only played nine minutes in two of the last four games and his impact had been limited in those minutes. With seven capable and versatile players ahead of him in the C's rotation, Stevens tightening up with his playing time allotments was hardly shocking. The second-round pick has been in and out of the Celtics rotation all year long.

For whatever reason, this was a bit too much for Lue to handle. However, it was of the several nice rotation tweaks that Stevens made in Game 5 that got the best of the Cavs. Starting Aron Baynes in place of Marcus Morris helped to provide a stronger defensive backline against LeBron James and help to keep Tristan Thompson off the offensive glass (one offensive rebound). However, moving Morris to the bench also provided the added benefit of giving him more time to defend James head-to-head.

That is a matchup that the Celtics weren't able to align as well with their smallball five against a big Cavs front line. Morris was forced to guard Kevin Love more in previous games, which left Brown spending plenty of time on James. With Morris coming off the bench, Stevens was able to get that matchup with James more.

There may be counters waiting for the Celtics in Game 6, but there aren't many options left for Lue at this point with his lackluster bench pieces. Korver could be inserted into the starting five for Smith, but there isn't really any one else in that group he should be playing more. Additionally, the starters have looked gassed in Game 5, making a shortening of the Cavs rotation a questionable option as well. Without any clear answers for Lue, the Celtics have to feel good about having two chances to close this thing out over the next four days.