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Cleveland Cavaliers: Isolation offense might be key to Cavs’ success

By Nathan Beighle

CLEVELAND, OH - NOVEMBER 17: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers handles the ball against the LA Clippers on November 17, 2017 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - NOVEMBER 17: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers handles the ball against the LA Clippers on November 17, 2017 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Just like the Houston Rockets, the Cleveland Cavaliers play quite a bit of isolation offense, and it seems to be working.

The Houston Rockets are the quintessential example of a team that excels at isolation offense. Before acquiring Chris Paul this past offseason, the Houston Rockets were led solely by James Harden, who was notorious for his fascinating ability to break down a team from the top of the key. The Cleveland Cavaliers, who have been led by LeBron James this season much like James Harden led the 2016-2017 Houston Rockets, have been one of the few teams to be more successful when isolating.

This season, the Cavaliers have played the fifth most isolation offense. They only trail the Thunder, Rockets, Mavericks, and Timberwolves respectively. However, the Cavaliers are one of the few teams that are actually more effective when they turn to isolation offense. Overall, the Cavs are the seventh-best shooting team in the league, and they move up a couple spots to the fourth best shooting team when isolating.

LeBron James is the main playmaker for the Cavs and usually turns to play this style of offense late in games. Here’s an example of James’ late-game dominance as he continued his legacy as the King of New York with this shot over Knicks’ prodigy Kristaps Porzingis.

James, who succeed with his late isolation on Kristaps, had less fortune when he went up against the Michael Jordan-owned Hornets. Although the Cavaliers ended up winning this game, James ended the game with several difficult shots after isolating himself with the ball in at least three straight possessions.

James scores just under a third of the Cavaliers’ points in the fourth quarter. While James is the main culprit of playing in isolation, the Cavaliers have players like Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose that depend on isolation-style offense more many of their points as well.

All in all, the Cavaliers have only been in isolation for 171 possessions this season, and they have scored 1.02 points per possession this season. Unlike many teams, the Cavaliers have the personnel to succeed one-on-one, but one unique feature to playing in isolation is it is hard to maintain success, even the Houston Rockets eventually fell in the postseason.

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The Cavaliers play isolation offense just 9.6% of their possessions (so this style of offense is not too prevalent in their system), but they have shown the ability to be dynamic while isolating their scorers. That said, moving forward this team could turn to more of an isolation style offense in the future.