Cavaliers must keep game at slower pace vs. Grizzlies on Friday

The Cleveland Cavaliers will face off against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, and Cleveland needs to keep the game at a slower pace for the most part.

Next up on the schedule for the Cleveland Cavaliers is the Memphis Grizzlies, who will be visiting Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Friday in the second game of a three-game home stint for the Wine and Gold.

As John Henson and Kevin Love touched on recently after a 133-113 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday, clearly, the Cavaliers’ have a recurring issue when it comes to transition defense. As Henson highlighted, transition defensive issues are something that can be common for young teams, such as Cleveland currently, and that’s a fair point.

More from King James Gospel

• 3 possible starting lineups for Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023-24
• The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
• 4 players the Cavaliers should pursue in 2024 free agency
• 6 players Cavaliers might replace Jarrett Allen with by the trade deadline
• This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead

Some of that has been due to communication breakdowns, too, as Love seemed to hit on.

To me, though the Cavs are just 25th in pace thus far in the 2019-20 season, according to NBA.com, when Cleveland has been sped up and trying to push it too much, such as the case especially with Collin Sexton or Cedi Osman, given that both of those players want to do that a bunch, it’s resulted in tough situations defensively going the other way.

Somewhat piggybacking off the youth sort of thing, though Osman and Sexton are capable of getting downhill and can get easy baskets from pushing the ball to the rim in transition or in semi-transition, they’ll make their share of ill-advised plays in that realm, too, as was demonstrated on Thursday.

That hasn’t necessarily meant turnovers, but some of the shot selection from those two players, and occasionally pieces such as Kevin Porter Jr. and Jordan Clarkson has been similar to turnovers with Cleveland’s defense being in at a considerable disadvantage when opponents, such as the Raptors on Monday, force tough looks and get a favorable set-up going the other way.

In this game against the Grizzlies, who want to play fast, I’d think it would best serve the Cavaliers to play at a slower pace, where they can utilize productive man and ball movement and still get good shots.

Clearly, the engine of this Memphis offense is rookie Ja Morant, who is probably the NBA Rookie of the Year right now.

Morant is as speedy as it gets end-to-end as there is in the league, and he’s got passing vision one can’t really teach, which leads to plenty of lobs and easy dump-offs for pieces such as Jaren Jackson Jr., to go with Brandon Clarke, and Dillon Brooks is more than capable of finishing as a spot-up threat, too.

The rookie is more than capable of slamming it all over just anybody on the break, too.

Anyhow, Morant, who is leading the Grizz in scoring with 18.9 points on 56.2% true shooting, and assists per contest with 6.5, as noted by NBA.com, is a key reason why Memphis is playing at the league’s fifth-fastest pace this season. To add to that, De’Anthony Melton in his rotational minutes has done a nice job forcing the issue to get himself and others good chances on the break, too.

Though I understand the likes of Jackson Jr., along with Jonas Valanciunas and Clarke, in particular, are very formidable near the rim defensively, if the Cavs utilize plenty of man and ball movement in their settled offense, the looks should still come from drive-and-kicks from Darius Garland, Osman and others.

Morant has shown some good instincts off the ball playing a big part in having 1.3 steals per game, and has been solid against opposing point guards on defense that has led to some pushing the other way by him, but I’d still think in pick-and-roll, the likes of Garland should get some switch-out opportunities.

That should lead to productive ball-swings allowing the Cavs to at least get their defense more set at the other end.

Furthermore, getting Love good opportunities in the halfcourt early and often should get him going, and hopefully, Love can get to the foul line against the likes of Jackson Jr.

The Memphis second-year big has averaged the most personal fouls in the league in 2019-20, according to NBA.com.

Moreover, if there are clear and easy transition looks, I’m all for the Cleveland Cavaliers taking them in this one, but the Cavs don’t want to get in a track meet against these Grizzlies for the better part of the game.

If the Cavaliers are patient, get the ball moving and cut effectively on the weak and strong side as they’ve done pretty well their last few games, they should get plenty of quality opportunities in settled offense in rhythm against a team also playing a bunch of young pieces big minutes.

Along with that, the Cavs should have a better chance of containing Morant if there can be help from pieces such as Tristan Thompson and Cleveland’s defense being set as opposed to on the break a ton, where Morant is so athletic and is such a heady passer.

Memphis moves the ball pretty well with the likes of Morant, Tyus Jones and small-ball 4 Kyle Anderson in settled offense, too, but again, the Cavs should be able to be more matchup-sound if they’re set defensively here.

If the Cavaliers keep this game at a slower pace and aren’t killed by tons of live-ball turnovers with pieces such as Morant, Dillon Brooks, Jones and Solomon Hill laying in the weeds, Cleveland should have a good chance at getting a victory at home against 10-18 Memphis.