There is no question that in professional sports, success is copied. What is perceived to be the reason for a title is copied by other teams searching for a model of success.
The NBA is no different. Three titles in four years by the Golden State Warriors have other teams trying to play like them. Our observation is the same as when the Cavaliers tried to play uptempo against them in the last two NBA Finals.
If you play like the Warriors, they are better at that style than you, and they will defeat you.
The Houston Rockets tried this last year, and they had the best record in the NBA. They also had a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals over Golden State, but Chris Paul got hurt, and Mike D’Antoni’s team couldn’t overcome that.
And as for the Cavs win in 2016? Remember, that Warriors team did not have Kevin Durant, and they played slower before Durant signed with them as a free agent.
The wine and gold started the season trying to play at breakneck speed. They lost their first three games, including being blown out in their home opener vs. Atlanta.
Since those first three contests, they’ve slowed their pace significantly, but they are still just 1-11 after last night’s one point loss at Chicago.
However, because of roster considerations, the Cavaliers play small lineups most of the time. They only have four traditional power forward/center types on the roster, and one of them is Channing Frye, who rarely plays.
Kevin Love is another of course, but he is injured.
That means we have seen JR Smith or Cedi Osman trying to guard power forwards, and that’s not going to end well.
So, why not zag when other teams are zigging. Perhaps it is time to go back to the way NBA teams used to play, with two post players.
Larry Drew tried it last night, starting Tristan Thompson at center and using Larry Nance Jr. at the power forward.
Now, they were playing the Bulls, one of the NBA’s “have nots”, but Cleveland narrowly missed a road win, losing by just one point.
Thompson had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and although Nance had just 2 points on 1 of 8 shooting, he still corralled 14 boards and had four blocked shots.
This would mean more minutes for 6’11” Ante Zizic and some spot minutes for Frye as well.
Drew has slowed the pace since he took over the squad and the result is much more competitive games. Two of the last three Cavaliers’ losses have been by two points or less on the road.
We thought the Cavs best bet this season would be to use their depth and play at hyper speed, but their smaller players, wings and point guards aren’t good enough defensively.
Currently, the best defenders need to get more time.
Nance is rated the best, but he only averages 20.6 minutes. Next are David Nwaba (9.3), Smith (19.1) and Sam Dekker (18.8). Then come Love and Thompson.
If you are struggling on defense, why not get those guys on the court more often, particularly Nance and Nwaba.
One more thing on the defensive end. This team simply must figure out a way to stop dribble penetration by opposing point guards. It can be done, because other teams do it to the Cavs.
Again, it’s pretty simple. Teams need to play according to the talent they have. Playing small makes no sense for this group of players.
Playing slower and bigger should be the way to go from here.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 