Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 key staples in wins in 2019-20

Key staple #3: More active hands/timely help defensively

The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to have their struggles over the course of the season with perimeter defense, considering the Garland/Collin Sexton backcourt is going to be undersized against a bunch of matchups.

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That being said, Sexton has done a better job this season so far than last year on the perimeter, and so has Cedi Osman.

Thompson has also played an integral role as the primary back line defender for Beilein, and in the Cavs’ wins, it’s clear that active hands and timely help on defense has been crucial, as it’s also led to easy baskets going the other way.

In Cleveland’s wins, they’ve had 8.3 steals and 5.3 blocks per game, according to NBA.com.

In losses, the Cavs have conceded more easy baskets, and the help/rotations haven’t been nearly as crisp, and in those five occurrences, Cleveland’s averaged just 6.2 steals and 3.2 blocks, and again, it’s been harder on the other end.

In Cleveland’s last contest against New York, the Cavaliers forced 21 turnovers, and converted that into 23 fastbreak points, according to ESPN.

Sexton bothered New York’s Frank Ntilikina in that one, and he was even very effective against one of the best all-around scorers in the NBA in Washington’s Bradley Beal Friday, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor highlighted.

"“Sexton matched up against Beal on 61 percent of the Wizards’ possessions. During that time, Beal, one of the league’s premier shooting guards, scored two points on 1-of-4 from the floor. Sexton also forced a pair of turnovers.”"

It’s been encouraging to see Collin doing better from a positional standpoint often against bigger 2’s this year, and again, it’s clear that when the Cavs are having more active hands defensively and shutting off the paint, it’s enabled them to have more matchup-sound defense.

In turn, they’ve been able to get out and run more with pieces such as Sexton, Garland, rookie wing Kevin Porter Jr., Jordan Clarkson and Cedi Osman.

Plays like the three above are big for Cleveland, because it gets younger pieces going and more confident throughout games, and gives them some juice.

Thompson, who is on track for a career-high in blocks per game with 1.6, according to Basketball Reference, has been huge defending near the rim in the Cavs’ W’s, too, and that sort of thing has helped mitigate some of the mistakes young defenders are going to make.

What an effort this was from TT, who along with Love, has been setting the tone on the glass and has been a productive secondary playmaker, too, this year.

When the Cavs have been successful for the most part defensively, they’ve cut off the painted area well, had high hands and been making plays on adjacent passes.

In losses, they’ve simply not been as disruptive, and opponents, such as the Dallas Mavericks, who defeated Cleveland 131-111, have torched the Cavs inside and out while having too many open looks.

On to the second key staple in Cleveland’s wins.