The Point-Fourward: Five Out of Five for Three

Four points I’m thinking about the Cavs…

1. By and large, humans are slaves to the moment. Our clearest memories betray a foggy relocation confirming our many biases. Our theoretical futures of magical perfection or condemned misery predominantly depend on our current mood and disposition. In a moment of exhilaration or despair, we make sweeping declarations and prognostications that we subsequently are left to defend for fear of feeling foolish or weak. Stand by your word! Doesn’t matter if one doesn’t really believe in that particular utterance. It is often better to cherry-pick evidence of one’s nonsense rather than simply say, “my bad” and move on to a new “moment”.

Last week, after the Spurs obliterated the Cavaliers, fans(and mostly the media) had a mild heart attack. “Chill Mode” was actually the reality and the Cavaliers wouldn’t be able to flip the proverbial switch. Everything was awful. Four victories later, the switch is all kinds of flipped and everything is awesome!!!(Sorry to put that song in your head. Double sorry if it wasn’t in your head until I said song. Whatever you do, don’t click on this) Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that the Cavs are the best team ever! Okay, no. But the recent win streak did give us legitimate reasons to rosy our glasses.

2. J.R. Smith has finally gotten his legs under him. Obviously, it has contributed to his better shooting as Swish has drilled 21 or his last 40 threes. Perhaps more importantly, it has led to consistent mental focus on the defensive end. Anyone who has played ball without being totally in shape knows that the moment you start thinking about how tired you are is the moment you get out of position. J.R. does have a penchant for losing a guy running a backdoor cut, but usually he trails screens well and properly chucks down on the opponent’s roll man. Over the last three games, Smith has really tightened up his off-ball defensive work and it has paid off for Tyronn Lue’s defense. Also rounding into shape is Kyle Korver. Kyle hasn’t had many shots in his two games back from a sore left foot, but he sure has been effective. Draining 5 of 7 from deep in limited minutes, Kyle also reinserted a defensive understanding to the lineup that was lacking during his absence. J.R. and Kyle might not be the most important players on the Cavs’ roster, but their return to efficiency has really bolstered the Cavs’ play.

3. When the Cavs first traded for Korver, I envisioned a crazy shooting lineup of Kyrie Irving, Swish, Kyle, LeBron James, and Kevin Love. Most “five out” lineups throughout the league(essentially lineups that have five guys with three point range) feature players that need severe help on the defensive end and/or glass. This Cavalier lineup does not. Kyrie and LeBron may not be at the top of their defensive games during the regular season, but their postseason versions grade at plus and super plus. J.R.’s reputation as a defender was buoyed by Lue’s praise and his performance since he has become a Cav. Somehow, Kyle and Kevin have yet to receive the same respect for their defensive acumen, even though they continuously prove themselves to be fantastic team, if not lock-down, individual defenders. The lineup also projects to be a solid rebounding group relying on proper boxout technique and the threat of Love’s outlet passes. There really is no reason they should be smoked on the defensive end. That being said, the primary function of this lineup is to abjectly torture the opponent on the other end of the floor.

Until this past week, Lue really hasn’t had the opportunity to see this group with a functionally in shape Swish and a healthy Korver. Even in the Celtics game, we only saw it on one glorious possession. With 14.5 seconds left in the first half, Lue checked Korver into the game for the final play. The subsequent action may have looked like a typical “LeIso” at first glance, but all isolation finishes are not created equal. In this possession, LeBron takes his live dribble to the top of the arc. On the left side, Korver starts in the corner before popping to the left wing with the help of a J.R. Smith screen. Smith then settles into the left corner himself. On the right side, Kevin starts around the top of the circle before coming over to  slip screen for Kyrie Irving coming from the right wing. Both guys have the option to pop to open threes or roll to the cup. All of this is basic basketball screen work. What isn’t basic is that the Celtics’ defense is forced to play tight on all off-ball action. They simply can’t afford to leave their guys and shade the paint because Love, Swish, Kyrie, and Korver are all between great and all-time great shooters. LeBron James, best player in the world, is left to go one-on-one against poor Jaylen Brown. Brown is a solid young defender, but King James unsurprisingly goes right through him for an And-1 to end the half.

When a defense’s best options are “leave Love open for three” or “let LeBron frickin James go one-on-one in the middle of the floor” then that defense is in serious trouble. It is a lineup that I am eager to see more of in the playoffs. I simply can’t figure out a way to counter it. An opposing coach could attempt to go small and switch on all off-ball screens, but that provides even less rim protection against LeBron and Kyrie dribble drives. Kevin Love is also too good of a post player to get away with that for long. C.J. Miles is a surprisingly stout defender on the block, especially for a wing, but Love positively annihilated the man in that second OT versus the Pacers. One could attempt to dare LeBron into shooting threes from the top of the floor by sagging back to the foul line, but that would just give the King more momentum driving to the cup. Really, the only hope an opposing team would have is to try and outscore the Cavs. Not an easy task.

4. With Tristan Thompson out, the Cavaliers’ starting lineup is also a “five-out” group, albeit one with more flaws. Channing Frye’s shooting ability pulls an opponents’ bigman from the rim, but he isn’t enough of a dribble drive threat to really scramble a defense. Defensively, Frye isn’t able to hang with opposing wings or guards for very long when the defensive switch dictates it. Still, there is value in having a big man who doesn’t automatically switch as a rule. That very limitation requires teammates to be more aggressive getting over screens. It promotes a level of playing “force” that is sometimes lost when a team lazily passes defensive responsibility across the perimeter. Ultimately, the Cavs defense at its most locked in, features Tristan Thompson’s ability to guard all five positions in spurts. At its “not quite” locked in, Frye’s limitation might actually prove beneficial. Going forward, it is good to have effective lineups that don’t feature Tristan. If I’m an opposing coach, I intentionally foul TT until I run out of bench players. The Cavs “five-out” offense is just getting tuned up and will likely be unstoppable in the playoffs. The only recourse opposing teams may end up having it to make Tristan and Adam Silver miserable with “hack-a-palooza 2017”. Opponents must prevent the Cavs from scoring when Tristan is on the floor, because when he isn’t, it may be game over.