This time last week, I ripped into the Cavaliers and for good reason.
Just seven days ago, the Cavs seemed like a team trying to find themselves. The ball wasn’t moving, there was no energy from the players, the effort level wasn’t there and LeBron James wasn’t playing up to his MVP standards.
Well, what a difference a week can make.
Simply put, during this week’s 3 game-winning streak, the Cleveland Cavaliers looked like the team we expected them to be coming into the season. The ball has been moving, the offense is in sync, energy levels are up across the board and maybe most encouraging, the Cavs have taken pride in playing defense.
Let’s focus on that last point I made. Coming into the season, everyone knew defense would be an issue but no one expected the Cavs to be ranked 28th in the league in opponent-field goal percentage (the major stat NBA coaches use when judging defensive performance) after game 12. The Cavs were 5-7 at that point and defense was one of the main reasons. Rotations were slow; the Cavs were getting burned at the rim and the Cavs were playing with a lack of concentration on that end of the floor. It seemed as if defense was going to be a season long issue and at that point, there was little light at the end of the tunnel.
Fast-forward a week and the Cavs have rapidly turned it around.
Following the Cavaliers 109-97 victory over the Indiana Pacers, the squad now ranks 23rd in opponent-field goal percentage, per NBA.com, and have the appearance of a team that is locked in on the defensive end of the floor. Let’s take a look at how opposition teams have played on offense against the Cavs this past week:
| FG% | 3P% | TURNOVERS | POINTS | |
| Orlando | 36% | 29% | 18 | 74 |
| Washington | 47% | 39% | 18 | 87 |
| Indiana | 39% | 32% | 8 | 97 |
As you can see, teams have been struggling against the Cavalier defense as of late. Now it must be mentioned, that two of those teams, the Magic and Pacers, are both injury-rattled and aren’t the most efficient offensive units. But, leading into the Orlando game, the Cavs were on a 4-game losing streak and playing horrible defense and the Pacers were fresh of a 15-point win when coming into Cleveland. As for Washington, the same team dismantled the Cavs team just a week earlier and the Wizards have been one of the Eastern Conference’s best squads so far this season.
None of the three games were easy for the Cavs. In fact, most games will not be easy for Cleveland this season, so they will need to bring the energy and effort on the defensive end every single night.
Obviously, the major stat that stands out from those games has been the low shooting percentages from the opposing teams. No longer have the Cavs been giving teams open looks and easy attempts at the basket. The Cavs are now making sharper rotations and communicating with each other much better. This has led to the opposition to work harder for their shots and it has forced them to take rushed, bad shots.
The Cavs not turning over the ball has also helped keep opponents field goal percentage down. Let’s take at how the Cavs have been protecting the ball over this winning streak and how that’s resulted in less fast break points for the opposition:
| Opponent Fast Break Pts. | Number of Cavalier TO’s | |
| Vs. Orlando | 6 | 13 |
| Vs. Washington | 2 | 10 |
| Vs. Indiana | 2 | 10 |
Those stats are simply incredible. It must also be noted that the two fast break points the Wizards scored against the Cavs were in garbage time and just a week earlier, Washington put up 16 fast break points on the Cavs.
The Cavaliers have been getting back on the defensive end and have been contesting shots at the rim on opponent fast breaks which, combined with the improved ball protection, has led to Cleveland giving up only 10 fast break points in their last three games. If the Cavaliers can push the tempo on the opposition, while slowing them down at the same time, they will be an extremely tough team to stop.
Along with the lower opponent field goal percentages and the drop in opponent fast break points, another reason for the sudden Cavalier defensive surge has been forcing turnovers.
Like I previously mentioned, both Orlando and Washington coughed up the rock 18 times against the Cavs, although Indiana turned it over only 8 times. A main key to this turnaround has been playing the passing lanes and thinking a step ahead of the opposition. Cleveland has been pressuring the ball and forcing the opposition into making poor decisions. These forced turnovers have allowed the Cavs to push the tempo and score easy fast-break points, which is when the team is at its best.
While all the Cavs have picked it up on the defensive end, no player has done more so then Kyrie Irving. Irving has been heavily criticized over his career for his poor defense and deservedly so. Almost every point guard has torched Irving over the past three seasons and he has shown little interest on that end of the floor.
That’s changed this season.
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Irving is now taking pride in stopping the opponents best player, something he seemed completely disinterested in over the last three seasons. He has been playing the pick and roll extremely well and is playing the passing lanes smartly. Irving seems to be enjoying his improved defense, as he had this to say after the win against the Pacers, per Chris Haynes of the North East Ohio Media Group:
"“My first three years, it was just making excuses of offensive burdens and all this other stuff and at the end of the day, I just have to do it for the greater good of our team. In order for our team to win, I have to be that kind of guy on the defensive end. You can only talk about it for so long and at one point it just has to be done. Going into my fourth year, it was just a conscious effort just to have a better focus level on that end. It starts with that. No matter whom we are playing against, guys are trying to stop me and I got to try to stop other guys. It’s the attitude I have every single night. Of the teams, it’s their objective to stop me. So in the back of my mind it’s like, ‘Why can’t I be a great defender? I don’t understand.’ It’s just all about effort.”"
If Irving evolves into a defensive stopper, he could legitimately become the best point guard in the NBA in a few years.
All season, the Cavs have seemed completely lost on the defensive end. Now, they look like a team that could be an above-average defensive team.
And if they want to be lifting the Larry O’Brien trophy in June, they must continue this defensive play.