The Cleveland Cavaliers should make traps, post-ups staples of their game

The Cleveland Cavaliers have an identity. They developed it in these playoffs. However, they got away from what made them dominant throughout the course of this postseason. Trapping on defense and post-ups on offense.

In Game 3, the Cleveland Cavaliers got away from the style of play that allowed them to dominate throughout the postseason.

Gone were the aggressive traps on defense, replaced by hard shows that did nothing to disrupt the Boston Celtics and limited the Cavs transition opportunities.

Gone were the post-up attempts by LeBron James and Kevin Love, as the Cavs kept chucking threes and completed.

It’s completely understandable that the Cleveland Cavaliers would adjust their defensive gameplan for Game 3, with Isaiah Thomas being held out for the rest of the postseason and their offensive, of course, going through major alterations. However, it didn’t work and despite the Boston Celtics playing pretty well in the first quarter, the Cavs didn’t go back to it.

How else does Marcus Smart end up with 27 points and 7 assists unless the Cavs didn’t take him seriously as an offensive threat? 21 of his points came from behind the line. While a few of those shots were contested, the problem was moreso that they didn’t try to get the ball out of Smart’s hands and force Avery Bradley to beat them.

Smart went 8-14 from the field.

Bradley went 8-23 from the field.

If you play the percentages, keeping the ball out of Smart’s hands is the safer bet.

Playing so passively on defense also allowed the Celtics guards, who had a combined 11 assists, to get the rest of the team in rhythm.

Jonas Jerebko went 4-4 from the field.

Kelly Olynyk went 5-8 from the field.

Jae Crowder was 6-14 from the field.

Those things don’t happen unless the team as a whole feels like it’s in a rhythm. The whole team doesn’t feel like it’s in a rhythm, without their best player, if they’re playing against an aggressive defense.

Oh, and as far as the turnovers the Cavs would create from trapping the ball-handler?

Before Game 3, the Celtics were averaging 13 turnovers per game against the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals. In Game 3, they had 9 turnovers.

Before Game 3, the Celtics were averaging 16 fast break points per game against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. In Game 3, they had 2 fast break points.

In the first quarter, riding high off of Kyrie Irving and Love’s eight combined three-pointers, the Cavs didn’t do much posting up for the rest of the game. In fact, Love only made one field goal attempt inside the restricted area for the whole game and despite his hot shooting start, he didn’t score a single point from inside in the second half.

Irving and James didn’t try to get him easy scores around the basket by exploiting matchups in the pick-and-roll either.

James didn’t try posting up and looking to score himself until the third quarter and by the time the fourth quarter started, he was completely out of rhythm after consistently deferring in the first half.

This was his “Iguodala” game. Andre Iguodala, who used to be the primary scoring option for the Philadelphia 76ers in his heyday, came to the Golden State Warriors and quickly became a pass-first forward who rarely looked for his own offense. James’ Game 3 performance mirrored that mindset.

He never managing to establish his presence in the first half or control the game in the pick-and-roll as only he, The Sheriff of the NBA, can.

The Sheriff of the NFL, Peyton Manning, was an exemplary pre-snap quarterback who would make all of the necessary adjustments he needed before the ball was snapped to exploit the defense’s worst matchup.

James, operating out-of-the pick and roll where he could switch onto bigs he could blow past and guards he could bowl over, didn’t look to get himself in envious positions until the second half and failing to convert 2-3 of his field goals inside the paint in the third quarter, he deferred to the hot hands for the rest of the game.

He certainly didn’t have “it” this game and he said as much.

However, what that “it” was was the aggressive style of play we’ve seen from him all throughout the postseason.

Nevermind that the Celtics brought it defensively, giving James all they had on post-up attempts, James pretty much let the game pass him by by being passive for the first 24 minutes he was on the floor.

In Games 1 and 2, the Cavs averaged 46 points in the paint per game. In Game 3, they scored 20 points in the paint.

The difference in Game 3 wasn’t just that the Boston Celtics got momentum. It was that the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t prevent them from getting momentum. The reason James played poorly in Game wasn’t just that he didn’t have “it”. It’s also because James didn’t start attacking until the second half and by then, it was too late.

If there is one positive to take away from this game, it’s that Tristan Thompson was a man among boys out there and the Boston Celtics clearly have no answer for him inside. Thompson finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and 1 block. Out of his 13 rebounds, 7 were offensive boards.

He brought the physicality as an individual that the Cavs needed to bring as a team and in Game 4, they could learn a lot from Thompson’s performance in Game 3.

Do you think the Cleveland Cavaliers need to be more physical in Game 4? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.

Cavs need to make traps and post-ups a staple of their game

By Quenton S. Albertie | May 22, 2017

The Cleveland Cavaliers have an identity. They developed it in these playoffs. However, they got away from what made them dominant throughout the course of this postseason. Trapping on defense and post-ups on offense.