The Cleveland Cavaliers took care of the helpless Brooklyn Nets on Thursday Night with a 107-87 victory at the Quicken Loans Arena.
This time last week, the Cavs suffered a shocking loss to these same Nets, in what was one of the upsets of the seasons.
Lightening didn’t strike twice.
LeBron James had 24 points, 11 assists and was an extremely efficient 8-of-11 from the field, while Kevin Love also doubled-up with 19 points and 10 rebounds. The third member of the Cavaliers big three, Kyrie Irving, managed just 10 points on 4-of-14 shooting, but had some interesting comments post-game.
Kyrie: "Everything surrounding our team, it's just crazy to think that we're still in 1st place and we're still the team to beat, honestly"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 1, 2016
With all the drama surrounding the Cavs, it’s nice to see Irving still has immense confidence in his group. However, multiple aspects of Cleveland’s game needs to be worked on before the playoffs begin but for one night, against the Nets it must be noted, the Cavaliers were almost perfect.
The offense was clicking on all cylinders and the ball was hoping, as the Cavs finished with 29 assists on 38 made field goals. The defense, which has been called into question for good reason lately, held Brooklyn to just 37.2 percent shooting from the field.
Brook Lopez and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson both sat out this one for the Nets. Thaddeus Young led Brooklyn in scoring with 18.
Here are three things we learned from the Cavaliers win.
Ball movement
As aforementioned, Cleveland finished with 29 assists on 38 made buckets against Brooklyn, a 76 percent assist rate. For context, the Golden State Warriors lead the league in assist percentage at 68.3 percent, so that shows you just how well the Cavs were moving the basketball. In fact, the Cavaliers assisted on all nine of their made field goals in the first quarter.
“I think it (the assist percentage) would have been above 75 percent if a lot of our shots that we normally make would have gone in,” Irving said, via cavs.com. “As shooters, we just got to be ready to shoot and our guys did an unbelievable job at getting downhill and just making the right pass and offensive rebounding and getting great shots.”
For a team that is fourth in the league in percentage of plays that are isolation, it is refreshing to see them move the ball at such a high clip. It is also frustrating in a way as well.
Yesterday, I wrote how the Cavs have a slightly flawed offensive system and in there, I outlined how the Cavaliers need to cut out some of the isolation and start moving the ball at a more proficient rate. Maybe, Tyronn Lue read the article (probably not), because Cleveland was moving the ball with a purpose against Brooklyn. It resulted in a free-flowing offense and a 49.2 percent shooting rate through three quarters, before the benches cleared in the final term.
This is the frustrating part. The Cavs are such a dangerous and unstoppable offensive machine when they move the ball. With the amount of playmakers and offensive talent they have on the roster, there is no reason for Cleveland to fall into the trap of isolation basketball as often as they do.
They didn’t fall into that trap against the Nets and the results were telling. The offense was sensational and going into the playoffs, especially when Cleveland will be in clutch situations, they must trust the ball movement and get away from their iso-heavy ways.
Love is in the air
Last season, despite playing in just three and a quarter playoff games, Love seemed to have finally found his comfort zone with the Cavaliers. There was no disconnect between him, James and Irving, and Love’s body language and shooting percentages were high.
On a season long basis, Love hasn’t been able to find that magic he produced in the playoffs last year. His shooting percentages are stumbling and his defensive shortcomings are becoming amplified.
However, including his 19 point, 10 rebound effort against Brooklyn, Love is starting to get into a rhythm as the regular season comes to a close. Over his last five games, Love is averaging 19 points and 11 rebounds, while shooting the ball at a 47.9 percent rate, including 36.8 percent from behind the three-point line.
One of the main reasons why Love has been so good lately is that he has found that fine line between being aggressive in the post but still providing the floor spacing he is there for. Of his 14.2 field goal attempts over the past five, Love is shooting 7.6 three’s.
Now, 50% of Love’s shots coming from three is probably still a bit too much but with the way this Cavs team is built, the reality is he needs to be shooting that many three’s. The driving lanes that are created for James and Irving when Love is shooting the three-ball are far too good to ignore.
That being said, Love is a confidence player, so he needs to stay involved with post touches. Over the past five games, Cleveland has made a concerned effort to get the ball down low to Love more often and he has taken advantage. Plus, Love is beginning to pass up some open triples and drive to the basket and draw the foul. This isn’t a bad idea, as Love is connecting on 81.7 percent of his free throws this season.
Coach Lue has said one of his goals heading into the post-season is to get his players into a good flow and rhythm. Love has been doing this lately and he could be a major x-factor in the Cavaliers playoff hopes.
Defending the three point line
When Lue took over as head coach, one of his major focuses on the defensive end was defending the three-point line. With the added importance of the three-point shot in today’s NBA, Lue figured if you take that away, it would slow down the opposition’s offense.
This worked like a charm against the Nets, as they were just 4-of-21 from beyond the arc, including 0-of-11 in the first half. Coming into the game, Brooklyn, believe it or not, has been one of the hottest long-range shooting teams in the entire NBA.
Since February the 1st, the Nets have been shooting the ball at a 40.6 percent mark, tops in the league. In wins, that numbers raised to 44 percent, so despite their record, Brooklyn are no bums when it comes to three-point shooting.
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The Cavs didn’t care.
Cleveland were active on the defensive end all night long, making the right rotations, which led to the Nets not getting quality three point looks. For a team who has struggled mightily on the defensive end lately, a night like this was needed for the Cavs.
“I thought in the first half, we played great defense,” Lue said, via cavs.com. “Just coming in, looking at it and watching it, I thought our guards tried to get into the ball. Our bigs were in a great drop position to contain (Shane) Larkin on the pick and roll.”
In that first half, Cleveland held Brooklyn to just 39 points on 31.4 percent shooting from the field.
The Cavs made a run to the NBA Finals on the back of gritty defense last season and if they can get back to that, it will do them wonders come playoff time.