Slowing down Victor Oladipo has been key for Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers have keyed in on slowing down Victor Oladipo and it’s changing the tone of the series.

It’s probably obvious but slowing down the opponent’s best player is a good idea. Luckily, for the Cleveland Cavaliers, they’ve accomplished this feat in their last two games against  Victor Oladipo and the Indiana Pacers.

Though they split their first two home games and the two subsequent games in Indiana, their win in Game 2 was due to two factors more than any other:

LeBron James’ 46 points and Oladipo only playing a minute in the first quarter after leaving with two early fouls. He would go 9-18 for 22 points in the game after scoreless opening period.

The Cavaliers won by three and had a -15 point differential after the first two games. If you don’t include the first quarter that Oladipo essentially missed with foul trouble, the Cavs had a -30 point differential.

In the first two games of the series, Oladipo would go 20-37 (54.1 percent) from the field and 8-17 (47.1 percent) from three-point range . In the last two games, Oladipo has gone 10-35 (28.6 percent) from the field and 4-16 (25.0 percent) from three-point range.

A large part of their overall success has been successfully blitzing pick-and-rolls and forcing Oladipo into a bad shot or a turnover.

The Pacers, opting to veer away from a clear struggle of Oladipo’s, have gone away from running pick-and-rolls.

Oladipo instead has taken more shots in isolation and, thanks to some stout defense from J.R. Smith and smart coverage calls from James on the backline, been forced to take tough shots more often than not.

In these two games, the Cavaliers have had a +1 point differential.

This doesn’t seem like a lot in and of itself but it’s a +16 point turnaround from their first two games and, if you recall the point differential when you exclude the quarter in the which Oladipo left with early foul trouble, it’s a +31 point turnaround from their first two games.

A large part of their turnaround definitely has been on the offensive end, as the Cavaliers only scored 80 points in Game 1 but have averaged 98.0 points per game in Game 2-4.

That’s something the Cavaliers have started to figure out, with Smith and Kyle Korver in the starting lineup providing additional space for James to drive and the firepower from three-point range they were missing with Rodney Hood and Jeff Green.

The energy with which the Cavaliers have been moving on defense, in addition to great position defense and communication, has led to a fluid defensive group in the starting lineup. Players like Hood and Larry Nance Jr. have also had a positive impact from the second unit.

Altogether, while the Cleveland Cavaliers were criticized for their defense throughout the regular season, they’ve come together to play better team and individual defense. Slowing down a player like Oladipo isn’t an easy task and it’s taking the best of Smith’s defense and, frankly, the best defense the team has played all season to do it.

Nonetheless, they’ve keyed in on Oladipo and its paying dividends.

The only question is if they can keep it up.

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*All stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.com