Cavs home playoff dominance continues in Game 3

The Cleveland Cavaliers got back in the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, with a 120-90 demolition of the Golden State Warriors, as the Cavs dominance at home during the playoffs continued.

Home, sweet home.

How much can playing in front of your hometown fans, on a familiar court, matter in the grand scheme of things? If you’re Cleveland, a lot changes, as we have seen in these playoffs.

After two hapless performances at Oracle Arena in Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals, all hope seemed lost for the Cavaliers. The offense had stumbled back into their isolation-heavy ways, the defense was getting torn to pieces, their heart was being questioned and just to top it all off, Kevin Love was placed in the NBA’s concussion protocol.

One four-hour flight to Northeast Ohio fixed all of those issues, for one night anyway.

“Our fans give us everything they have, and it’s up to us to give it back to them,” LeBron James said prior to Game 3, via Bill Livingston of The Plain Dealer. “We’re on our home floor, and understanding we’ve played some really good basketball (here).”

Even Warriors coach Steve Kerr was weary of how much home court advantage can mean this late in the season.

“We know how it is when the series changes venue,” Kerr said, via Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer. “The entire emotional dynamic changes. So we have to come in and be prepared for the early onslaught and the crowd noise.”

Kerr was right – there was an early onslaught and a raucous Cleveland crowd to boot – one that was fair too strong for the mighty Warriors to take down on this night.

The Cavs raced out to a 9-0 lead, with a boisterous home crowd behind them. That lead eventually ballooned to as much as 20 in the first quarter, and despite Golden State clawing back within eight at half time, this game, for all intends and purposes, was done after 12 minutes.

“I just think it’s two words, physicality and aggressiveness,” Tyronn Lue said post-game, via cavs.com. “I thought we were very physical defensively, and I thought we were aggressive offensively, attacking the basket, getting out in transition, running the floor.”

That visceral defense began with the initial ball pressure. Too often in Games 1 and 2, Cleveland’s defenders would sag off the ball handler, instead focusing on the Warriors’ off-ball activity. This allowed playmakers like Draymond Green way too much space to control, with no resistance from the Cavaliers defense.

Game 3 was a stark contrast. The Cavs were in the Warriors grill all night long, giving them no air space. The trapping of Stephen Curry, who was once again held to under 20 points, was quick, decisive and belligerent. LeBron James playing the power forward position, with Tristan Thompson at center, gave the Cavs two formidable bigs at trapping Curry. Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith’s defense was also a positive throughout the night.

From that initial trap, the Cavs chopped off all of the Warriors’ other avenues to score. Cleveland locked in on Golden State’s off-ball movement and screening, denying them any free looks, both at the basket and on the perimeter. The Warriors shot just 42.1 percent on the night, including a woeful 9-of-33 from beyond the three-point line.

The lock-down defense in Game 3 compliments Cleveland’s terrific defensive efforts at home throughout the playoffs. Often ridiculed for their sometimes-mediocre defense, the Cavs home defensive playoff numbers cannot be ignored.

At the Quicken Loans Arena these playoffs, the Cavs are allowing just 96.1 points per 100 possessions, which would be the best defensive rating of all 16 playoff teams. Away from Cleveland, the Cavs give up 110.6 points per 100 possessions, which would be in the bottom quarter of their playoff foes.

The huge contrast is also seen in the opposition’s efficiency shooting the basketball. The Cavaliers are giving up an effective field goal percentage of 47.6 at home in the playoffs, compared to 55.2 percent on the road.

Cleveland’s defense will need to travel well if they wish to win the championship, but they have a good blueprint to follow to do so.

Offensively, the Cavs finally looked like the team that had roared through the Eastern Conference during the first three rounds.

The ball was swinging, open shots were going down and the much maligned isolation ball trickled away. Cleveland put up 120 points to the tune of 52.7 percent shooting, and they finally re-discovered their three-point stroke, connecting on 48.0 percent of their long-distance looks.

Of course, the Cavs offensive onslaught went hand-in-hand with their scoring expertise at the Q these playoffs.

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Cleveland has an unbelievable 60.8 true shooting percentage and a 58.2 effective field goal percentage at home, which are astonishing shooting rates. Furthermore, the Cavs are scoring 119.8 points per 100 possessions in Cleveland, a sign of an offense that is in sync and effective.

The play of Smith (20 points) and Thompson (14 points, 13 rebounds) was a big reason for Cleveland’s deadly offense. Of course, a common trend in the NBA is that role players perform better in front of their home crowd, and the case remains for Smith and Thompson.

Smith has seen the more prominent swing, as he is averaging 13.6 points, while shooting 50 percent from the floor at home in these playoffs. On the road however, those numbers drop to 9.7 points and 40.8 percent respectively.

For Thompson, his main attribute is rebounding, which travels well. There is only a 0.2 rebounding difference for Thompson on the road compared to at home in the playoffs. His shooting percentage though, paints a different story. Thompson is connecting on 51.7 percent of his shots at home, giving the Cavs yet another effective offensive weapon. Away from the Q, that percentage dramatically dips down to 42.2, a number that must be better from a player who takes all of his shots at the basket.

Finally, the Cavaliers seemed more energized by the home crowd. They were getting to 50-50 balls, screaming after big plays and seemed more emotionally engaged in the game.

As good as Game 3 was, the job is far from over. The Cavs stumble in Game 4, and all of a sudden they’ll be facing elimination against a Warriors team that is equally as dominant at home. Win Game 4 though, and the series is tied 2-2, and the ‘believe’ aspect of ‘believeland’ will be reinserted emphatically.