3 Cavaliers who have earned a larger role in the playoffs

Cavaliers who earned a larger role No. 2: Caris LeVert

The story for Caris LeVert all season has been the same. His skillset is highly duplicative with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, and he generally has struggled in an off-ball role. His defense, however, has been at a career-best level as he has bought into how he can help this team and earn minutes. When one of the two stars was out, he often erupted for a one-off big performance.

In Game 1 of the series with the Knicks, LeVert was not helpful. In Game 2, however, he had one of those massive performances. Tom Thibodeau was trying to hide Jalen Brunson on Isaac Okoro, which was working, so when Okoro picked up two quick fouls in Game 2, Bickerstaff inserted Caris LeVert. Brunson continued to try and hide on LeVert, and that’s when the wing went to work.

Playing in just his 11th career playoff game, LeVert absolutely cooked Brunson. Playing a game-high 40 minutes, LeVert bullied Brunson in the lane and then got into his stepback bag. He shot 9-for-16 from the field, including 4-for-9 from deep, to drop 24 points. In his minutes the Cavs outscored the Knicks by 23 points.

LeVert’s defense has been excellent this season, and so while his streaky shooting isn’t as reliable as a true 3-and-D player, he makes up for it with his on-ball ability to punish the weak spot in the Knicks’ defense. There is nowhere to “hide” Brunson with LeVert on the court with Mitchell and Garland. LeVert won’t shoot as well as he did in Game 2, but he should continue to get the lion’s share of the minutes at the 3 moving forward.