DEFENSE still matters in the NBA! Inside the Cleveland Cavaliers Defensive Identity – Cavs News

DEFENSE still matters in the NBA! Inside the Cleveland Cavaliers Defensive Identity – Cavs News

The Cleveland Cavaliers are proof that defense still matters in the NBA because their league best 17-5 record since mid December wouldn’t be possible without their Resurgence on the defensive end of the floor last season’s top ranked defense the Cavaliers won 51 games behind their identity but to start the

Current season Cleveland had seemingly taken a step back in terms of stopping opponents they placed 15th in defensive rating through the first month of the NBA season and have sense jumped all the way to second overall first since December the Cavs are doing this by following the basic principles of modern

NBA defense which are limit opportunities in the paint contest shots on the perimeter and hold teams to just one attempt per possession during this stretch the Cavs are holding opponents to the fourth fewest points in the paint on the second worst field goal percentage in the restricted area behind

The three-point line opponents shoot the eighth worst percentage and connect on the ninth fewest three-pointers against Cleveland all the while Cavaliers are allowing the fewest Second Chance points in the whole NBA by covering all of their bases the Cavs bait opponents into taking some of the least efficient shots

In basketball teams are attempting the fifth most mid-range field goals against Cleveland putting the Cavs defense in the driver seat for most games and this is all possible because of elite point of attack defense covering the perimeter with Jared Al anchoring the interior defense and cleaning the glass each

Night Allen is having arguably his most impactful season serving as the Cornerstone to all of Cleveland’s defensive success Allen has been Dynamite to opposing pick and rolls blowing up at Lana’s entire game plan by taking away their best action over and over again in this matchup cross over by Tre loobs it up

The season on his threes pocket pass for kagu that’s blocked by Allen Trey pass batted down it’s a turnover Allen has built a fortress in the paint with opponent shooting 7% worse when Allen is near them Allen manages to be physically imposing without giving up free throws at the half Horton Tucker

He’s pestered by Porter Wheels inside to kler kler and this is even more impressive when you consider Allen isn’t simply sitting in drop coverage all game like many other Rim protecting bigs he’s up at the level of the screens and contesting three-point shots at a relatively High rate since mid December

Only six players have contested 152 pointers and 53p pointers Allan is one of them and he has done so while playing the second fewest minutes of that group his Rim protection is hard to overstate but Allan’s activity on the glass has been just as important Allan recently recorded a franchise record 16

Consecutive double doubles and was one shy of making it 17 straight Cleveland’s success in limiting Second Chance points has come largely on Allen’s shoulders he is the fifth highest defensive rebound percentage during the stretch but reemerging as the League’s best defense has truly been a team effort one of Cleveland’s disadvantages

Last season was a lack of Team rebounding especially after losing Kevin Love the onus fell entirely on Moy or Allen to secure the ball and this became their downfall in the playoffs when New York was able to Blitz the glass with a handful of capable rebounders at every

Position but this season Allen has had help all around him stru Mitchell Wade and auro have all chipped in on the glass and set the tone Defensively this is an easy offensive rebound for New Orleans if stru only boxes his own man and watches the play but instead stru chases after the ball and what would have been a second chance opportunity for the Pelicans turns into a fast break for Cleveland I think Shu in particular has brought a

Certain Competitive Edge that Cleveland was missing last year he plays as hard as anyone on any given night you won’t see Shu deliver a lazy close out even when someone tries to punish him for helping he’s exerting himself to the max no pun intended here he is blocking the

Potential game tying shot as the Cav stunned the Mavericks with a double digigit comeback in Dallas and this level of energy is infectious the Cavs have and scrambling as a unit to rotate and cover all of their seams but most importantly the Cavs are trusting one another to hold up

Their end of the deal individual accountability has become key rather than faking effort and hoping Allan or Moy will cover up their mistakes the Cavs are locked in and accepting the responsibility of playing one-on-one Defense watch how Allen trust Mitchell to fight through the screen and stay connected to his man through the entire drive this this allows Allen to properly defend his end of the pick and roll falling back into rebounding position and drawing it over the back foul this wouldn’t be possible if for example

Allen overstepped to help and thus opened a lane for an offensive rebound and this is where I include a clip of the Dreadful Nick series shock winding down Brunson floats it up comes up short Robinson offensive rebound back up this is a big adjustment the Cavs have made striking a balance between too

Much and not enough help to find a healthy medium watch how each member of the Cavs stays home on this possession that ends in a contested Three-pointer in the past I could easily see streu or Mitchell overreacting and stepping out to help on these cuts and that would have resulted in an open three-point shot from their man but because they all trusted each other it’s 24 seconds of imp penetrable defense and a stop now just like every other

Basketball team the Cavs make mistakes and help when they shouldn’t but compared to last season I think the difference is night and day and well at least some of this comes down to the superb point of attack defense being played by Isaac aoro and Dean Wade now

Looks at defend Leonard on this it’s aoro this time he’ll go all the way and he draws the foul these two have made all of this possible by being arguably the best perimeter defensive Duo all season Wade is a switchable Defender who has been an absolute Menace when it

Comes to suppressing shots he’s guarding the perimeter as well as anyone and against Memphis the C stuck weight on jiren Jackson down the stretch to secure a victory Jaren again goes at Wade Gigi offensive rebound left it short and Wade has been a timely help Defender recognizing when and where he

Is needed as for auro he’s building a campaign for all defensive first team that defense and Le Creeps in trying to draw a foul missed the shot grabbed by lever well done by aoro the Cavs can confidently stick aoro on anyone they choose with him taking on Giannis Dame

And Lopez all in the same game aoro can be trusted to put up a fight against just about anybody but he is at his best when he’s making life difficult for the opposing team’s best ball handler Damen Lillard is shooting nine of 34 when defended by aoro this season and it’s

Not hard to see why count down six Lillard pulls up contested bra and airballs aoro was right there this level of point of attack defense is truly special and it’s why aoro is going to be tough to keep off of the floor even if he isn’t the complete package on offense

The value aoro brings to Cleveland’s defense just isn’t something they can find anywhere else and when you pair a quo with everything the Cavs have to offer from Allen’s interior presence to the hustle and commitment being spread across the roster it’s no wonder the Cavs have rediscovered their defensive

Identity what a play 37 now for Mitchell on the night you see the numbers in overtime oh Jared Allen says No

The Cleveland Cavaliers are the BEST defense in the NBA! Here’s an inside look at what makes them so special on this end of the floor.

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