The Cavs 5-man lineup that is dominating opponents

The Cavs’ dominant 5-man lineup: 1. Defensive versatility

As mentioned before, scoring against this lineup is a scary proposition. Their size, versatility and switchability neutralizes opponents’ points of attack all over the floor. Mobley and Allen mix up their coverages to keep offenses guessing. Wade is particularly adept at “quick” switching, forcing teams to take a moment to think about what’s next. Bickerstaff has even been using Mobley and Wade on primary ball handlers to throw different looks at opponent pick-and-roll actions. With Okoro and Garland’s development as capable defenders, the seems to attack in this lineup are narrow.

Defensive rebounding has to be mentioned too. Per Basketball-Reference, this group is out-rebounding their opponent by +10 on the defensive glass over 100 possessions. For context, the difference between first and last place in the league in this category per game isn’t even five. Opponents are getting just one shot attempt against this lineup and even those are difficult (again, their 77.1% defensive rebounding rate would easily lead the NBA this season). Scheme and individual defensive chops are analogs for a truly fearsome lineup.

With Lauri Markkanen ramping up and Caris LeVert on board, the frequency of this 5-man unit is likely to take a hit as the season goes on, but J.B. Bickerstaff has to be smitten with this net result gem of a lineup as the 2022 playoff race heats up.