Cleveland Cavaliers are peaking at just the right time
By Luke Sicari
The Cleveland Cavaliers annihilated the Atlanta Hawks 123-98 on Wednesday night, to extend their Eastern Conference Semi-Finals lead to 2-0.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame might need to open up a new memorial because the Cavaliers deserve it, after their dumping of the Hawks in Game 2 of the east semis on Wednesday night.
It was a historic night, as the Cavs knocked down 25 three-pointers, which sets a new NBA record, in both regular season and playoff games. J.R. Smith was the ringleader, as he went 7-of-13 from beyond the arc, including some ridiculous fading away, falling out of bounds triples.
“Honestly, I feel like that every time I play, to be honest with you,” Smith said about his confidence in shooting the three-ball, via Tim Bielik of Cleveland.com. “Whenever I shoot the ball, I have confidence that it’s going to go in.”
As sensational as the three-point shooting was, Cleveland showed that they’re clicking on all cylinders right now. After the game, Tyronn Lue mentioned how he was a little concerned if the Cavs would ever get to this point when he took over the head coaching duties.
Those concerns are well and truly extinguished, as the Cavaliers have been playing on another level during their 6-0 start to these playoffs.
After the Game 2 win over the Hawks, LeBron James downplayed the narrative that this Cavs team is a three-point shooting team. However, they are hitting 16.2 threes per game during the playoffs, which is 5.2 triples better than the second best team, the Golden State Warriors.
Additionally, the Cavaliers are attempting the most triples during the playoffs and are hitting on 45.3 percent of those three-point shots, which is also first in the playoffs.
Out of Cleveland’s total shot attempts during the playoffs, 42.5 percent of them are coming via a three-point shot. So to concretely say the Cavaliers aren’t a three-point shooting team might be a bit of a stretch by James.
It’s a comment that also holds some merit though.
If the three-point successes are the engine of the Cavs offense, then the ball movement, rebounding and defense is the necessary oil that makes it roar.
“I thought out defense was great,” Lue said after the Game 2 win, via cavs.com. “I thought that was out best defensive effort in a long time. When we compete and when we play great defensively, then we can get out and run and get pretty much anything we want.”
While James’ assessment of the Cavs not being a three-point shooting team can be questioned, Lue is on the ball about his team’s defensive effort against the Hawks.
On the night, the Cavaliers stout defense forced the Hawks into 16 turnovers, a 42.3 shooting percentage and just seven fast break points. Take away the meaningless final period, where both teams emptied their benches, and Atlanta was only able to muster up a 38.5 shooting percentage and committed 14 turnovers.
The fact that the Cavaliers are doing this to anyone is impressive, but against an Atlanta team who posted the NBA’s second best assist percentage in the regular season makes it even more eye opening.
Smith was playing on Kyle Korver’s hip once again, as the Hawks’ three-point marksman had just seven points on 3-of-7 shooting.
“Just lock into him,” Smith said about his strategy on locking down Korver, via cavs.com. “We were talking about it the other day in the locker room, you got to be like Deion Sanders used to be, shut off this side of the field and make them throw to the other side. That’s the way I look at it. Just lock in, chase him off as many screens as it takes and if he does get the ball, be prepared for him to shoot and contest it as best as you can.”
It wasn’t just Smith, as the entire Cavalier team was active on the defensive end. They were scrambling on defense, getting into passing lanes and taking away the beautiful ball and player movement the Hawks are known for.
Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love once again deemed the Hawks All-Star duo of Paul Millsap and Al Horford ineffective. While the Atlanta pair combined for 26 points, neither had a profound impact on the game.
Speaking of Thompson and Love, both of them have been able to help Cleveland become one of the most proficient rebounding teams during the playoffs.
Cleveland pulled down 43 rebounds in Game 2, including 12 on the offensive glass. The Cavaliers are now averaging 41.8 rebounds per game in the playoffs, including 10.3 on the offensive glass.
After the Cavs Game 1 victory, James compared Thompson to Dennis Rodman. The way Thompson is able to make his presence felt on the offensive glass echo’s the impact that Rodman had on the Chicago Bulls dynasty teams of the 1990’s.
We saw how much Thompson enjoyed playing the Hawks in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals and he is carrying that on so far in this series. Pulling down 5.5 offensive rebounds per game against Atlanta, and 4.5 throughout the entire playoffs, Thompson is once again proving why he is worth 82 million and more to this Cavs team.
For a team that has such a deadly offense like the Cavaliers, extra possessions are backbreakers for the opposition. Defending the Cavs for 24 seconds is hard enough, but when Thompson is hustling around the basket and creating extra chances? It just beats up a defense, both physically and mentally.
Finally, the way Cleveland has been moving the ball during these playoffs has completely erased any concerns about an isolation-heavy attack, like we saw at stages during the regular season.
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In Game 2, the Cavs dished out 27 assists on 41 made field goals, creating quality opportunities from behind the three-point line and all around the floor.
Throughout the playoffs, the Cavaliers are averaging 23.7 assists, a 61.2 assist percentage, a 19.0 assist ratio and an assist to turnover ratio of 2.73. All of these numbers are representative of a championship level team.
On NBA TV after the Game 2 win over the Hawks, Reggie Jackson spoke about how his Detroit Pistons hoped Cleveland’s ball movement was just a one game thing. He was wrong, as Atlanta are dealing with the exact same issue, and with the way the Cavs are playing in all elements at the moment, they’re a serious problem for anyone.