Why Charlotte Could Be Cleveland Cavaliers’ Biggest Threat
By Luke Sicari
With the Cleveland Cavaliers new-formed trio of LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, many people are already shooing the Cavaliers in to make an NBA Finals appearance this season, which would only be the second in franchise history. Not only that, many experts are predicting the Cleveland Cavaliers to win it all this season and bring Cleveland that elusive trophy.
While that is a very fair predication to make, it won’t be easy for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Many people are expecting the Chicago Bulls to pose the biggest threat to the Cavaliers, and rightfully so. With the additions of Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic, Doug McDermott and a healthy Derrick Rose, the Bulls could very well be the East’s No. 1 team this season.
The Cavs and the Bulls will be the top two teams in the East this season, but one other Eastern Conference team may pose the toughest match-up for the Cleveland Cavaliers: the Charlotte Hornets. With newly signed Lance Stephenson, Al Jefferson coming off his best season of his career and Kemba Walker becoming one of the best young players in the league, the Hornets could be the team to cause a second-round upset.
You may be thinking this is crazy, but the Hornets could legitimately knock off the Cavs in a playoff series, and here’s three reasons why.
Who will stop Al Jefferson?
One of the, if not the biggest, weaknesses in this season’s installment of the Cleveland Cavaliers will be the lack of interior defense and rim protection. Even though Anderson Varejao can be considered as an above average defender and Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love are excellent rebounders, none of them provide the rim protection Cleveland needs. Newly signed Lou Amundson can provide rim protection, but he isn’t even guaranteed a roster spot yet. There is also a glimmer of hope Brendon Haywood can stay healthy, but who knows what type of form he will be in.
This lack of rim protection will prove to be a mighty difference when the Cavs are trying to figure out how to defend Al Jefferson. Big Al had a career year last season, averaging 21.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and posting a 50.9 percent field goal percentage, in 35 minutes of action a night. Jefferson shot an incredible 65.1 percent from less than five feet from the basket, and when shooting from within 5-9 feet of the basket, Jefferson still managed to shoot 50.5 percent. With Cleveland’s lack of rim protection or post defender, Jefferson will have a ball playing against the Cavs.
Last season, Love allowed opponents to shoot 57.4 percent at the rim, while averaging 0.5 blocks per game. Varejao allowed opponents to shoot 54.2 percent at the rim, while averaging 0.6 blocks per game. And Thompson allowed opponents to shoot 59.1 percent at the, while averaging 0.4 blocks per game. None of those numbers give me any confidence that anyone on the Cleveland Cavaliers will be able to stop Jefferson in the low post.
Jefferson’s deadly combination of spin moves in the post, jump hooks, pump fakes, up-and-under moves and precision in the post will be a handful for any of the Cavalier big men to handle. That, along with his excellent passing ability out of the low post, will open up the Cavalier defense and will allow Charlotte to score easy baskets at the rim.
Do not be surprised to see Jefferson have some of his best games of the season against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He will simply be way too much for any of the Cavs big men to handle.
Can Kyrie Stop Kemba?
Since coming into the league in the 2011 draft, both Kyrie Irving (first pick) and Kemba Walker (ninth pick) have had relatively successful starts to their NBA careers. Irving has an All-Star Game MVP and FIBA World Cup MVP next to his name, but Walker has playoff experience and led Charlotte to a season sweep against the Cavs last season.
Walker’s numbers in four meetings against Cleveland last season were 18.8 points per game, 8.8 assists per game, 4 rebounds per game, 3.3 steals per game and he shot 34.8 percent from the field. While the field goal percentage against the Cavs last season was extremely ugly, Walker’s ability to get his teammates involved and his havoc-causing defense was enough to lead Charlotte to a 4-0 record against Cleveland last season.
Irving has been known as a poor defender throughout his career, and that statement rings true against Charlotte and Walker. Irving has never been able to get the better of Walker due to Walker’s ability to hit tough shots in the paint, free himself up using his dribble moves and his lighting fast first step. Not only those, but Walker’s passing abilities have often left the entire Cavalier defense scratching their heads. Walker draws so much defensive attention when he drives to the rim that it often leads shooters open around the perimeter or it leaves cutting lanes for his teammates, which is something Cleveland is going to need to deal with when facing the Hornets this season.
Another area Walker has outplayed Irving so far in his career is defense. Walker plays the passing lanes brilliantly, which leads to turnovers and easy points on the other end for Charlotte. If Walker can cause the Cleveland Cavaliers into turning the ball over multiple times, it will create for some very interesting contests.
Walker has also shown the ability to hit clutch shots against the Cavs so far in his career. That clutch ability, Walker’s offensive abilities and his fast-paced defense gave Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers fits last season, and if Walker can do the same thing this season, it will lead to some big upsets.
Will LeBron Bring The Best Out Of Lance?
Lance Stephenson is a mystery and he can be viewed in two ways: He can be viewed as one of the best young players in the league, who has the potential to be one of the best two-way players in a few years, or he can be viewed as a hothead and a locker room troublemaker.
While that may be the public’s perspective of Stephenson, LeBron James’ perspective of Stephenson though may be one of an annoying, arrogant guard. After Stephenson infamously blew in James’ ear during last season’s playoffs, it created a rivalry between the two that had been building throughout the season.
During last season’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat, Stephenson averaged 14 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5 assists and shot 49.2 percent from the field. Not mind-blowing stats, but the attitude and toughness Stephenson played with in that series tells the true story. He was always in James’ grill, playing tough defense, drawing fouls (while flopping) off the King and even got under his skin a little bit. This caused James to make some silly mistakes.
Now with Stephenson in Charlotte, the rivalry between these two alpha dogs will only grow. A major question will now be, will James bring the best out of Stephenson? Players always raise their game against the best competition, and with the rivalry these two have developed, expect Stephenson to have some of his best games of the season against LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
While the Cavs are the better overall team in terms of talent, the Hornets have some very favorable match-ups against the Cleveland Cavaliers and could very well upset them if they met in this seasons playoffs.
What do you think? Are the Hornets capable of knocking the Cavs off in a seven-game series? Let us know in the comment section below.