Through the first two games of their Eastern Conference first-round matchup, the Cleveland Cavaliers defense is leading the way.
No, that is not a typo, you read that correctly. The Cleveland Cavaliers finished the 2017-18 season ranked No. 29 in total defense. In addition to that, they gave up an average of 109.9 points per game.
However, in the playoffs, the Cavaliers have held the Indiana Pacers to 98 and 97 points respectively.
Holding the Pacers to under 100 points in the first 2 games has been a revelation, and much needed.
Their offense has been stuck in neutral so far and their defense has had to carry the way. The 90.0 points per game Cleveland is averaging is dead last among playoff teams. That is not a good number for the Cavaliers moving forward.
While the Pacers still shot over 50 percent from the floor, the effort for the Cavaliers on the defensive end was evident. Kyle Korver was showing effort on the defensive end, and J.R. Smith, as well as LeBron, pressured Victor Oladipo all night.
Cleveland did do a good job at closing out on Indiana shooters most of the night. Oladipo had a couple of looks late that were wide open, but forcing the Pacers to shoot just 6-22 from beyond the arc was a good sign.
Running the Pacers off the line is a good sign, but in doing that the defense in the paint must do a better job at making it tough on Indiana.
At times Indiana caught them flat-footed in the lane on their way to the hoop. What needs to be eliminated for the Cavaliers is their willingness to let players go past them on drives to the basket.
Defense is all about effort and can spark your offense. In Cleveland’s case, they could use a jumpstart to their offense. A few easy baskets off of turnovers can be just the thing to kickstart the Cavaliers shooters.
While LeBron’s effort was unreal last night, that is not something you can realistically ask him to do night in and night out. James did play 40 minutes, but they were high-intensity minutes.
James will not indicate he cannot handle that workload and will likely welcome the challenge, but the more help he can get, the better Cleveland will be.
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Cleveland needs players like Kevin Love, George Hill, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson to get going. The defense has been good in the Games 1 and 2, but can it be something Cleveland relies on all series?
The answer to that is likely no. James is going to need Korver, J.R. Smith and Hood to hit their long-range shots. 11-28 from beyond the arc is an improvement over 8-34, but that number will have to be even better for the Cavaliers to prevail in this series.
A situation to follow is Love’s thumb injury he suffered late in Game 2. If Love is unable to go, that will severely hurt the Cavaliers chances moving forward.
But back to the defense. Victor Oladipo crushed the Cavaliers defense in Game 1, but thanks in large part to foul trouble Oladipo was a non-factor for long stretches of Game 2.
With the series shifting to Indianapolis, the duo of Oladipo and Darren Collison will look to be more opportunistic on offense. It will be the defense’s job to pressure those two and makes guys like Bojan Bogdanovic or Myles Turner try and beat you.
Most importantly Cleveland must contain Lance Stephenson. An energy player like Stephenson feeds off a raucous home environment. If he gets the crowd going, Cleveland will be in trouble.
Plain and simple, if Cleveland is not hitting their three-point shots, they are not going to win long-term in the playoffs.
The (surprising) silver lining for Cleveland has been their defense. As shocking as that may seem, this series is 1-1 because of their defense. Their 103.6 defensive rating is good for 5th place amongst playoff teams.
In the regular season, the Cavaliers hung their hat on offense, so far in the playoffs, their defense has been their calling card. If they can find a way to intertwine their solid playoff defense with their regular season offense, it could spell doom for their playoff opponents.
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This is still very much a series, and it will be vital the Cavaliers play their ‘A’ game tomorrow. If they fall behind again in this series, even a superhuman LeBron might not be able to save them from an early round exit.