C.J. McCollum of the Portland Trail Blazers doesn’t think too highly of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ defense. The Guard commented on this on Tuesday in the “Pull Up” podcast.
McCollum was asked which defence he had to work harder for his points against as an offensive player, against Boston or Cleveland, and replied: “Cleveland is one of the worst defensive teams I’ve ever played against, if I’m honest”.
However, this is also due to the many trades the Cavaliers made during the season: “They had many different players in the squad during the season, which is why continuity is missing and everyone is used to different languages and different signals in the defense. “I think that’s one of the reasons their defense’s going up and down so much.”
The Cavs had the second worst defensive rating of the NBA in the Regular Season with 109.5. In the playoffs, they managed to increase this value to 107.4, which is at least mediocre, although the weakest of the four teams still remaining in the playoffs.
“When it’s time to focus and prepare for just one team at a time, they are a lot better,” said McCollum, whose trail blazers had the worst rating of all teams in the playoffs with 114.7.