When both teams play DEFENSE – Cleveland Cavaliers vs Minnesota Timberwolves NBA basketball

When both teams play DEFENSE – Cleveland Cavaliers vs Minnesota Timberwolves NBA basketball

The Minnesota Timberwolves entered Cleveland with a league best defensive rating of 108.1 which just 10 years ago would have made them a bottom five defensive team in the NBA but the league has changed and containing modern NBA offenses is basically an impossible challenge the wolves and Cavs are two of the only

Teams who can still slow down their opponent with Cleveland ranking second in defensive ratings since mid December and third on the season season overall while both Minnesota and Cleveland were without key offensive weapons pinning these two Elite defenses against one another was destined to be a grindfest from the moment they jumped

The ball even with the match going into overtime the Wolves managed to scored just 104 points against Cleveland’s defense two points below the average of the lowest scoring team in the NBA with bone crushing performances from Jared Allen Isaac aoro and even George nian Yes you heard that last part right but

The Timberwolves played a sturdy game of their own led by defensive anchor Rudy goar and complimented by an abundance of length on the perimeter this was as close to an Old-Fashioned scrap as you will see in today’s NBA so let’s break down the ins and outs of how Cleveland

And Minnesota defended one another the matchups were set in stone right away with lead point of attack Defender Isaac auro taking on Anthony Edwards who just went off for an electric 44 points in his previous game against the Pacers but the Cavs defense is an entirely different Beast than the less

Frightening one in Indiana and aoro might have cemented himself as a member of the NBA’s all defensive team holding Edwards to two of 10 shooting in this individual matchup while the Cavs kept Edwards to just 19 points on seven of 27 shooting overall meanwhile the Timberwolves decided to stick Jaden McDaniels onto Darius

Garland putting a rangy 69 athlete to contain the 61 guard we can see the difference in how Cleveland and Minnesota chose to defend each other’s best scorer with Minnesota playing a heavy drop coverage and daring Garland to beat them with his in between game while the Cavaliers met Edwards at

The level of the screen to avoid giving him a Runway to the basket Darius Garland has been struggling to score from two-point range since suffering a fractured jaw and losing close to 12 lbs he had been shooting below 30% at The Rim over his last nine games so it’s no

Wonder Rudy goar is pretty content staying home on these drives and allowing Garland into his domain this strategy worked throughout the first quarter with DG shooting just two of six to open the game on the other hand we can see Cleveland plays an enormous effort in packing the paint

Against Edwards he didn’t see much daylight throughout the entire game with multiple Defenders swarming him whenever he stepped toward the basket Jared Allen made his presence known as Cleveland’s defensive anchor but timely rotations from players like George Nang kept Edwards from building ahead of steam here Nang plugs the Gap to stop

Edwards from seeing a clean Lane to the hoop and again take a look at how Allen is up at the level of the screen to add another roadblock here’s Nang once again holding in his ground as a help Defender and there’s aoro with a great recovery and block Cleveland’s defense was clearly

Making Anthony frustrated picking up an offensive foul when the Cavs Jam all five defenders in the paint to keep him out here the Cavs throw another three bodies at him with Garland’s backside help giving just enough time for Jones to recover and SWAT the shot even when Anthony beats his man to

The rim Cleveland’s rotation slamed the door before he could take advantage of it there’s nowhere for Edwards to drive and it didn’t help that he shot 0 of seven from downtown in this game even in isolation Edwards found it difficult to score on Cleveland’s rotation of sturdy Wings in Dean Wade and Isaac

Aoro and with a chance to win it at the buzzer you guessed it it’s aoro who takes on the challenge and gets the stop fortunately Minnesota was able to generate offense elsewhere with nas Reed taking advantage of Cleveland’s commitment to protecting the paint when not defending Edwards Cleveland mostly

Stuck to a drop coverage and this allowed Reed to put on his best Carl Anthony towns impression knocking down seven three-pointers on his way to a career-high 34 points a simple pick and pop made Reed unguardable and he was the main driving force behind keeping Minnesota alive on

Offense they even set him a flare screen to briefly take the lead in overtime but how did Cleveland manage to score on Minnesota’s defense while the Wolves rely heavily on gobear to dominate the paint their length and communication is really what makes them scary this is textbook defense across

The board and halts all of Cleveland’s motion resulting in Allen getting stifled by Goar and in the third quarter Minnesota’s defense is Hest ing again taking up the entire floor as Garland desperately searches for an opening to no avail Allan had a much harder time soring in the paint than he is used to as goar’s reach gave him trouble all night but thankfully Allen’s aggression

Led to a career-high 21 free throw attempts and he finished the night with a career-high 31 points this pump and dunk in overtime was killer and much of Allen’s success late in the game can be credited to to Darius Garland setting him up and finally cracking the code

While Minnesota devised a strong game plan and harassed DG with lanky Defenders Garland continued to press the issue by attacking drop coverage and converting nine of 14 attempts inside of the perimeter this step back and hesitation move to split the defense is vintage Garland and it was a gutsy

Performance from someone who had previously been in a rut scoring 34 points and putting his team in a position to win the game the Cavs worked hard in the second half to get McDaniels away from Garland putting him in screening action and allowing DG to make decisions in the high screening role

While results vary Garland’s ability to operate the two-man game remains at a high level and ultimately won Cleveland the game Garland shakes off McDaniels and puts on some magic with this midair adjustment to Dime up Jared Allen Garland and Allen really turned back the clock to 20 21 with their

Dissection of the defense here Garland leaves Nas Reed in the dust for another floater in overtime this matchup is one the Cavs were seeking throughout the final stages of the game and it led to the only real blunder Garland made on the Cavs final possession of Regulation Cleveland is looking to shed

McDaniels and give DG a better matchup with the game on the line we can see JB bicker staff hollering for the Cavs to move faster and an apparent Mis from Levert and aoro burns precious time off of the Clock the end result is still what the Cavs were looking for a switch that leaves DG on an island with a seven-footer but those L seconds added up and this isn’t your grandpa’s NBA as Nas Reed is more than qualified to hold his own this far away from the basket

I’m sure the Cavs hoped for a better shot in the situation but the thought process was solid and we see a nearly identical scenario in merge in overtime with Garland doing the right thing by hunting the mismatch and converting a big shot in the paint rather than settling for a difficult Jumper in

Closing time the Cavs go back to their High pick and roll now that Garland has forced Minnesota out of their drop coverage it’s a ridiculous hang in the air that allows DG to float it right on the money to Allen now in the driver’s seat Garland takes a wide angle to draw both

Defenders out of the play before shoveling a one-hand pass to Allen and generating another trip to the free throw line This is not as easy as Garland makes it look in fact scoring 34 points and dishing out eight assists against the NBA’s best defense is no

Small task at all and with this win the Cavs have now knocked off the top seated teams in each conference in just a matter of days all with Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley on the sidelines showing us that the Cavaliers might be a tougher team than we thought just Talking

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves are two of the best defensive teams in basketball. Let’s recap what happened when they went head-to-head.

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