Cleveland Cavaliers: What To Do Against The Golden State Warriors

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Step Six: Make Kevin Love and LeBron James go to work on the low-block

The Warriors, who seemingly have trouble guarding the best big men in the game more than other teams, honestly don’t have much to consider when Love is posting up because Love doesn’t play an advanced post game.

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He’d rather back the defender down and toss-up a hook haphazardly than try to use drop-steps, fakes, feints and counter-pivots to score inside. Perhaps, if he did, he’d have success when matched up against Green (or whoever was playing the four). However, he is prone to being fouled in the paint as he gets to the free-throw line on 22.0 percent of his post-up attempts.

Even if Thompson is playing center and there’s not much space, the Cavs should recognize that Thompson hangs back for rim-runs and that if Love did miss, there’s a better chance of Thompson grabbing the rebound of a two-point attempt than a three-point attempt.

Whatever position is playing, he needs to try to get the ball on the low-block as much as possible. Not only because he has one of the most advanced post games on the team but because he’s the biggest and strongest player on the team. He also has the court vision and offensive awareness to pass the ball to open players if the situation calls for it.

If they double James, they may as well put two points on the board for the Cavs because he’ll find the open man or the ball will work itself back around for James to score on a backdoor cut. If they don’t double James, the man who is a lean 6-foot-8 and 250 pounds will get to try to convert a post-up attempt. He’s scored on 44.8 percent of those attempts.

What do you think the Cleveland Cavaliers need to do to defeat the Golden State Warriors consistently, or at least with less difficulty? Let us know in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.