Cleveland Cavaliers Defense Dominating in the Playoffs
By Luke Sicari
The Cleveland Cavaliers defense was projected to be a major weakness of the team heading into this season. Many experts predicated that the Cavaliers didn’t even have the appropriate personnel to be a mediocre team on the defensive end and for majority of the regular season this was definitely the case.
From opening night up until the 15th of January, Cleveland’s defense was laughable. Teams and individual players would often crave up the Cavalier defense, where driving lanes were wide open and easy jump shots were a given against the Cavs. All of this resulted in Cleveland’s defense being ranked 26th in the entire league with a defensive rating of 106.4 for the first two and a half months of the season.
Cleveland’s defense was the one thing that was shaping up to ultimately cost the Cavs of their championship dreams. Even after General Manager David Griffin acquired the services of Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith, moves that completely turned the Cavaliers season around, the team was still an average defensive unit.
All three players did bring a different element of defense to the team though. Mozgov gave the Cavaliers the rim-protector that they desperately needed, Shumpert allowed Cleveland to put an intimidating perimeter defender on the floor and Smith surprised the Cavs with his defensive energy and effort he has played with. Since the aforementioned January 15th date, the Cavalier defense were a middle of the pack defensive team, earning a defensive efficiency ranking of 102.1, which placed them in a tie with the Miami Heat for 13th in the NBA.
Cleveland’s defense was still the one thing that many pundits pointed to when talking about the Cavaliers title hopes. While the new talent had improved Cleveland’s defense in a number of ways, the consensus feeling around the NBA was the Cavs defense wasn’t up to par to say a Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies or San Antonio Spurs. For the season, the Cavs had a defensive rating of 104.1, good for just 20th in the league. The last team to win a championship with a defensive rating outside of the top 10 in league was the 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers.
All of this has changed since the playoffs tipped off though, as Cleveland has locked down on the defensive end and has become a defensive force in the post-season.
Out of all 16 playoff teams, Cleveland currently has the second best defense throughout the tournament, with a defensive efficiency ranking of 99.2, a number that also would have placed them second in the league during the regular season. The Cavaliers also rank highly in a few of the other of key defensive categories during the playoffs.
Opponent field goal percentage, a stat that the Cavs have focused on this season, is clearly an area that the Cleveland coaches have keyed in on during the playoffs. Teams are only shooting 41.4% against a stingy Cavalier defense throughout the post-season, as the open jumpers and driving lanes that Cavs fans got used to seeing during the regular season are now gone.
When it comes to defending the three-point line, the Cavs have also been excellent, only allowing a 32.1% percentage, an indication of their improvement in challenging and closing out on outside shooters. The Cavs are third in the league for defending three-point shots in the playoffs.
The squad is ranked second in points allowed per game in the playoffs, probably the most important defensive stat. Teams are only managing to put up 94 points a game against the boisterous defense that Cleveland have played during the post-season.
After their epic Game 4 victory against the Chicago Bulls, LeBron James spoke about how important the defensive efforts are when the team is struggling on the offensive end, per cavs.com:
"“That’s what wins these ballgames. That gives us the best chance to win. You have to defend at a high level. If our shot is not going in like it did not in the 3rd quarter. We could not buy a shot. We had some great looks but the ball did not go in. You have to lay your head on something defensively and we did that in the 4th quarter. That gave us the best chance to win.”"
Many questioned how Cleveland would be able to match the physicality and defensive mindset of the Tom Thibodeau Bulls but so far, it hasn’t been a problem. While Chicago have made it tough on James, the Cavs have also made it tough on Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler (at times) and have given the Bulls frontcourt fits. I’ve lost count of how many lay-ups and tip-ins Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol have missed this season, due to the interior defense of Mozgov and Tristan Thompson.
Fear The Sword’s David Zavac highlights the defensive efforts of the Cavs big man during the playoffs:
Opponent's field goal % at the rim in the playoffs:
— David Zavac (@DavidZavac) May 12, 2015
Timo Mozgov: 33.9% on 7.8 attempts per game.
Tristan Thompson: 37.5% on 7 attempts.
The Cavs defense hasn’t always been perfect during the playoffs though, as adjustments have needed to be made and they were made successfully.
Gasol and Rose were abusing the Cavalier defense in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal with the Pick and Roll and the Pick and Pop. Gasol was getting open jumper after open jumper in Game 1, mainly in the third quarter, where he shot 6 from 8 in the period and it seemed as if the Bulls screen offense was going to be a major problem for the Cavs during the series. After the ugly first game though, the Cavs successfully made adjustments and the Pick and Roll/Pop hasn’t been a factor since.
Coach David Blatt spoke of the adjustments that Cleveland made after the Game 2 victory, per cavs.com:
"“We executed our game plan better and in the specific actions themselves we did a better job. I didn’t think we re-created the wheel. I just thought we were a lot more focused in our coverages and the adjustments that we did make were successful tonight. That doesn’t mean going forward we solved it all because we have a long way to go and a lot of games left to play. We’re going have to stay focused and continue to do a good job in those areas of the game.”"
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It wasn’t just during the current Bulls series that the Cavaliers had to make adjustments though; Isaiah Thomas of the Boston Celtics was giving the Cavs headaches during the first two games of their Conference Quarterfinal series. Thomas was getting into the lane with ease and was able to hit the open jumpers Cleveland were gifting him. Thomas was the Celtics only source of offense during the first two games, scoring 22 points in both Game 1 and 2. Come Game 3 though, Thomas was held to just five points and while he did manage to put up 21 points in the decisive Game 4, it came on an ugly 4 from 17 shooting.
The Cavs defense has been outstanding during the playoffs. They have made the necessary adjustments when needed and have been holding teams to a low number of points and shooting percentages. With the current injury problems that Cleveland has, the team needs every single bit of defense to help them win a championship. If the team can continue to play defense the way they have been though, it shouldn’t be a problem.