Through two games of the NBA Finals, a couple of things are clear:
1.The Cleveland Cavaliers are not the peak Oklahoma City Thunder defensively.
2. The Cleveland Cavaliers cannot beat potentially the greatest offensive team of all time in a run n’ gun shootout four times in seven games (much less four in five games).
Considering Cavs coach Ty Lue’s two main strategies coming into this series were to mimic the Thunder’s switch everything defense and continue to play “their game” (pushing the pace, space the floor with shooters, very similar to what Golden State tries to do) offensively, it is no wonder the Cavaliers are in dire straits. Before the Cavs can fix their issues, they must first understand why what they are doing is not working.
Defensively, the Cavaliers just don’t have the personnel to do what they are trying to do. The Thunder had a surplus of long, athletic, and alert defenders at their disposal, and the Warriors still eventually bested them with sheer shooting greatness.
The Cavs have a decent amount of athleticism, but their length and attentiveness has not been half of what the Thunder’s was. With all the movement and action in Golden State’s offense, you can’t turn your head the wrong way for a half second, or you could be burned backdoor for a layup or, even worse, an open three. This is precisely what has happened on multiple occasions to the likes of J.R. Smith, Kyrie Irving, and even LeBron James and Iman Shumpert at times.
The athleticism specifically hurts the Cavs when they try the switch everything technique. Kevin Love has absolutely no chance to guard Stephen Curry off the dribble, and yet their have been times where the Cavs’ defensive strategy has asked him to do just that.
For that matter, Love has struggled guarding any Golden State perimeter player off the dribble, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. He just doesn’t have the lateral quickness to stay with them. Thompson and James have done better, but, neither could stay with him consistently off the dribble, and the Warriors haven’t really needed to rely on mismatched Curry switches too often in this series.
Bottom line, the Cavaliers don’t have the players to play solid defense against the Warriors, regardless of scheme, really. The Warriors have actually been sloppy with the ball, averaging 15 turnovers through the first two games, but the Cavs have put up little resistance against non-turnover possessions.
As if the Cavs defense wasn’t making it easy enough on the Warriors, their offense is averaging 17.5 turnovers per game thus far in The Finals, a mark that would’ve ranked worst in the NBA during the regular season. There is a direct correlation between trying to play faster and high turnover rates.
The faster you try to play, the faster you have to make decisions, the easier it is to make a mistake. It is a small sample size, but you don’t have the luxury of a large one in a seven game series. You get seven games, max, to prove you are the better team, and the Cavs have done nothing to show as much through two games against the Warriors.
Also, when the Cavs have been passing the ball to their own teammates, they’ve been doing so much less. Cleveland has averaged 270.5 passes per game in the finals, lower than any other playoff round and lower than their regular season mark of 300.2.
The key to Golden State’s offense isn’t just rolling out the shooters and playing fast, but having players move constantly, set screens, and make smart passes on each possession. Thus far, the Warriors have proven why this is truly “their game” and not the Cavs’, creating 28 more points off of assists than Cleveland.
The Cavs’ shooting obviously hasn’t been what it was earlier in the playoffs (and rightfully so, no team can keep that up) but the ball is sticking too much. The Cavs have gone back to their one on one habits, and it’s hurting them dearly against Golden State’s championship level defense.
With all these problems and being two games away from elimination, the Cavs really have once chance: slow the game down. It’s what Cleveland did last year when they were totally outmanned by the Warriors, and it gave them a puncher’s chance for a few games.
The reasoning behind slowing the game down is to limit damage that Golden State can do. Right now, the games can get more out of hand because the Warriors have more opportunities offensively. But less possessions means less shots, which generally means less points.
Offensively, the Cavs would also need to execute a lot more soundly to beat Golden State in a slowed down game.
When locked in, this is arguably the best defense in the NBA. It might seem like everything is stacked against dear old Cleveland, yet again. But, there is no easy path to beating a historically great team, and the Cavs cannot keep playing like they have been.
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