King James Gospel
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Cleveland Cavaliers: Lessons from the Cavs 22-point beatdown of Detroit

By Jackson Flickinger

CLEVELAND, OH - MARCH 5: LeBron James
CLEVELAND, OH - MARCH 5: LeBron James /
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OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – FEBRUARY 13: Cleveland Cavaliers huddle before the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on February 13, 2018 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 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 2018 NBAE (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – FEBRUARY 13: Cleveland Cavaliers huddle before the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on February 13, 2018 at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 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 2018 NBAE (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images) /

The defense has the personnel to be good.

The Cavs looked great on defense. Their athleticism and versatility were on full display as they posted a 92.2 defensive rating while holding Detroit to just 39.1% shooting from the field.

However, this game isn’t a reason to think that all the defensive issues are solved. The Pistons are in a terrible slump and have lost nine of their last 11 games. Their offense has been the fourth worst in the league over that stretch posting an anemic 100.8 offensive rating.

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Besides their offense being terrible, Detroit is the absolute best type of offense for the Cavs’ defense to face at this point. The Pistons do not have dynamic guards and rely heavily on their front-court for their offense. The big rolling to the basket is their biggest threat on the pick-and-roll. This allows the Cavs to play a simple drop coverage instead of a complex blitzing scheme like they did most recently against Denver.

The drop scheme like the one they played here and against Boston and Oklahoma City is very basic and easy to run. The Cavs now have the personnel to run this simplified defense very well thanks to defensive minded players like Hill and Nance. We saw just how good they can be against a simple offense like the Pistons have.

The problem is this type of simplified defense will get torched against good shooting teams like Golden State and Houston. That is why Lue continues to try to implement his complex, blitzing defense against teams that have skilled guards. It’s a difficult defense to run and that’s why the defense looked so bad against Denver Saturday night.

The takeaway from this game shouldn’t be that the Cavs defense is fixed because it’s not. The takeaway should be the Cavs now have the personnel to be a good defensive team.