NBA Finals: How the Cavs Can Guard the Warriors
The NBA Finals are a full week away which means we have a lot of time to talk in general about the match-ups and get into specifics. The Cleveland Cavaliers have not been given a lot of hope by the national media or even the gambling industry.
For the most part people are unsure how the Cavs will be able to score with the explosive Warriors. The Warriors scored the most points in the league during the regular season, averaging 110.0 a game. The Cavs were almost a full 7 points, 103.1, behind Golden State, good for 8th in the league. Putting that in perspective, 7 points below the Cavs would have been good for the 7th worst offense in the league.
During the post-season both teams have come down a bit, the Warriors at 104.3 and the Cavs at 101.1.
In the regular season the Warriors were led by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, both with over 21 points per game. There supporting cast is nothing to sneeze at either. Three Warriors, Draymond Green, Marreese Speights and Harrison Barnes, averaged double figures while five others averaged more than 5.9 points per game.
In the post-season the Warriors have become a little less balanced. Curry is averaging 29.2, Thompson 19.7, Green 14 and Barnes 11.3. After those 4, Andre Iguodala‘s 8 points a game and Andrew Bogut and Shaun Livingston around 5 points are not producing due to far less minutes for their reserves.
So how can the Cavs defend the Warriors?
In the regular season the Cavs ranked near the middle of the pack, giving up 98.7 points per game. They were 1.2 PPG better than Golden State. They were allowing opponents to shoot 34% from deep and 46% from the field overall.
The post-season has been a different demon of Cavs defense. The Cavs have the best defense, tied with the Chicago Bulls, in the post-season. They have only given up 92.6 points per game. They have held their opponents to an amazing 28% from behind the 3 point line and 41% overall.
Some of their improvement has to do with two offensively challenged opponents in the Bulls and Boston Celtics but they continued to dominate in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks. The Hawks had the 10th best offense in the regular season including shooting 38% from deep, good for 2nd best behind the Warriors.
The Hawks scored 111 (in overtime), 89, 88 and 82 against the Cavs in a quick sweep. The Cavs stymied the Hawks from deep as well. The Hawks shot 16%, 17%, 23% and 37% during the series. Losing Kyle Korver was part of it but the Cavs defense was amazing.
That leads us to the NBA Finals versus the Warriors. It will be tough for the Cavs to shutdown their offense but their performance so far is encouraging. They shut down the 2nd best shooting team from the regular season, now they need to do the same against the best. So what will be the primary match-ups for the Cavs?
Steph Curry – Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova
Klay Thompson – LeBron James, Shumpert and Smith
Harrison Barnes – Kyrie Irving, Smith, James and Shumpert
Draymond Green – Tristan Thompson and James
Andrew Bogut – Timofey Mozgov and Thompson
The good news for the Cavs is that they have 4 good to great perimeter defenders in Shump, JR, Delly and LeBron who can chase around the two primary scorers the Warriors have. Many will look at Irving on Barnes as a mismatch but the Cavs will live with letting Barnes beat them.
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Tristan made life difficult for Paul Milsap and should be able to match-up well with him in the post and on the perimeter. Bogut’s limited range will allow Timo to protect the rim versus the drive.
One key for the Cavs will be fast break defense. The Cavs will need to either get to the 3 point line or to the paint, nowhere in between, when the Warriors are running. The Cavs bigs, including LeBron, can change sides of the floor quickly, getting back into the paint. The Cavs guards need to get back as well but setup at or behind the 3 point line, instead of inside of it.
The Cavs can slow down the Warriors offense. They have the talent and the schemes of David Blatt and Tyronn Lue have shown themselves as game changing. Expect that to continue in the NBA Finals.
Do you think the Cavs can slow down the Warriors in the NBA Finals?