The Cleveland Cavaliers’ defense is far from outstanding, and that was evident in their last meeting with the Denver Nuggets. To change the outcome this time around, they must make Denver work harder for those good looks.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have had a mixed bag of defensive results since the trade deadline shakeup.
In the nine games in which they’ve featured their new rotation (minus Kevin Love), they’ve gone 5-4. In their wins, their defensive rating has been a stingy 100.7, which would qualify for third-best in the NBA for teams in that span, per nba.com.
There were four other games in which their defense was far from exceptional, though. In those four games (all losses), their defensive rating was a dreadful 115.8. That mark would qualify for the second-worst in the NBA in that same span.
So when you combine those two ratings, the Cavs’ defense has been hit or miss.
One of the rough defensive games was over the weekend against the Denver Nuggets, a game where Cleveland got shredded from the three-point line in a 126-117 home loss. In that matchup last Saturday, Denver was scorching hot, shooting 54.7 percent from the field, and connected on 19 three-point shots, per ESPN. Guard Gary Harris was in a zone the whole way, as he led all scorers with 32 points and was 10-17 from the field (including six of ten from deep).
The Nuggets’ ball movement was the reason Harris and others were getting practically anything they wanted. Denver had a whopping 35 assists, and somehow, they had only nine turnovers.
The Cavaliers’ defense was trying just about everything to slow their high-powered opponent, but it was all for not. This next time around, head coach Tyronn Lue and the Cavs should ease off the blitzing of primary ball handlers and scorers, and just make Denver beat them more in isolation.
I know, that’s not an easy task, as the Nuggets have an ever-improving backcourt of Harris, Jamal Murray, and a bench microwave in Will Barton, paired with one of the best passing bigs in the league in Nikola Jokic, but the Cavaliers have better athletes playing defense now than what they had a month ago.
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If the Cavs are going to come out with a W against a team with a huge mile high home court advantage, they can’t allow Denver to have a near four-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio. George Hill, Larry Nance Jr., Rodney Hood, and others have to set the tone and force Denver to create shots more from one-on-one offense.
Both teams struggle in isolation scenarios, as the Cavs are the worst team in defensive isolation, and Denver is the second-worst team in offensive isolation, per Synergy. That being said, the Cavs’ defense could be much better in isolation scenarios in the near future, with Tristan
Thompson being sidelined for a minimum of two weeks, per Jason Lloyd of The Athletic. Thompson has had a rough, injury-riddled season, but his play has not been great when on the healthier side, anyhow.
Once known as a quality and versatile defender that was occasionally able to switch out in the pick-and-roll and in isolation, TT has regressed the last few seasons on D. This season, Thompson has been abused on the perimeter, as he is only in the second percentile in isolation defense, per Synergy. With Nance starting in his place and defending Murray at times and Jokic for the majority of the game, that should enable the Cavs’ perimeter defenders to stay at home on shooters more often.
It will take time to get all the horses working on the same page for Cleveland’s defense, though. Nonetheless, it’s a big test to see how Cleveland responds a second time to a team with the sixth-best assist rate and offensive rating in the league. In the Cavaliers’ last game, they looked good, but had a much easier task against a primarily one-dimensional, bully ball pick-and-roll against the Detroit Pistons.
As KJG’s Jackson Flickinger pointed out in a recent article, Cleveland needs to eventually run its complex blitzing scheme to slow offenses with skilled guards. Detroit does not fit into that category, again, as Flickinger discussed.
The bright side to this next matchup tonight against the Nuggets is that Cleveland did just play Denver, and maybe a new wrinkle here or there could benefit them defensively. I would not anticipate Harris and Murray getting quite as many open looks as they had in the Land, and if Lue and company were smart in this meeting, they would try to force Jokic into being more of a scorer.
Defending Denver’s pick-and-roll is anything but easy, but if the Cavs don’t completely rely on collapsing help, they’ll force tougher shots. They could benefit from putting more size on Murray with someone such as Hood or Cedi Osman for base scenarios, and even put James on Jokic at times to prevent offensive rebounding opportunities.
Moreover, I would not expect the Cavaliers to suddenly play dynamite defense in this matchup on the road, but if they can keep the scoring down a bit to around the 110 range, they’ll have a good chance of getting a nice first win on their road trip. It’s about the key stops and minimizing the quick spurts of threes in this one.
At the other end, the Cavs should have an easy time putting the ball in the basket and getting to the free throw line, as only four teams have a worse defensive rating than the Nuggets this season.
The Cavs aren’t going to shut Denver down, they just can’t give up so many wide-open looks and 35 assists. They’ve shown some flashes in their wins since the deadline that they can defend adequately when they’re not over-helping, which has led to opponent mistakes.
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Make this team earn it, and they should have a good chance of riding their own pick-and-roll to victory. Their own fastbreak points will come as well.