The crucial nature of this playoff run for the Cleveland Cavaliers has been talked about at a nauseam. A lot of the talk was centered around Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, and Evan Mobley, but also on head coach Kenny Atkinson.
With the Cavs having an embarrassment of riches at their disposal after the trade deadline, the onus was on Atkinson to experiment and find the right lineup combinations. Michael Pina of The Ringer outlined that fact perfectly.
At the end of the regular season, Atkinson said he didn’t know who would be in the team’s rotation or their starting small forward. Even coming into the Toronto series, he was still mum about it. He ended up settling on a starting lineup that has worked with flying colors.
Atkinson going with Dean Wade for the starting group has been a masterstroke
Cleveland has struggled on defense at times this season, especially as the regular season came to a close. Wade missed most of the end of the year, which was a huge reason for the slippage. He is the team’s best perimeter defender by a longshot and that has shined through in this series.
Wade has been tasked with guarding Raptors forward Brandon Ingram and he has completely neutralized the All-Star. Ingram finished with seven points on three-of-15 shooting in Game Two and for the series, Wade has held him to one-of-six shooting in 12 matchup minutes.
Wade has done a good job of doing his work early against Ingram. He has been denying him on the catch, top locking when the Raptors try to screen him, and using his length and physicality to make life difficult for Ingram. Even when he gets a shot up, it feels like a chore.
Additionally, the starting unit of Harden-Mitchell-Wade-Mobley-Allen has an absurd +44.9 net rating in 36 possessions. This includes a stifling 91.2 defensive rating. Atkinson has tapped into that relentlessly and he has seemed to find the five that he will rely on throughout the playoffs.
Even all lineups with Wade have been successful, with a +31.7 net rating.Â
Atkinson deserves a ton of credit for figuring this team out on the fly and what will work for them. He still has to figure out how to deploy his bench unit, but relying on Wade to run with the starters was the right decision and it has helped the Cavs start the playoffs off right.
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