The Cleveland Cavaliers have their back to the wall against the Golden State Warriors in the finals. Before Game 3 (Thu, 3 o’clock live on DAZN), SPOX asks themselves what they could do – apart from hoping for the home effect – to still have a chance. A lot has to do with Stephen Curry.
When LeBron James initiates plays for his team, good things happen. This is not really new – but the other players of the Cavaliers sometimes seemed as if they had little interest in contributing to it. The Player Movement off the ball stagnates much too often.
Of course, the Warriors follow the strategy of preventing open throws for Kyle Korver or J.R. Smith, for example, by using switches away from the ball. On the other hand, the Cavs also make it easy for them: If the first offball screen didn’t work out, they get out of concept, resulting in “Broken Plays”.
This is also shown by the fact that the Cavs with 8 Screen Assists in the previous finals are clearly below their play-off average (12.6). This applies to the Warriors as well, but with their Ball Movement they play more classic templates (29.5 versus 21.5).
The Cavs hardly get any open degrees (29.7 percent 3FG). From the simplest threesome, the one from the corner, they won only 8 pieces in the two games – too little.
The problem: So far the Warriors rarely double against LeBron – he should make 50 points, as long as nothing comes from the others. One way to lure dubs to LeBron more often with multiple defenders might be to put the king in the mail with a slightly higher frequency. Post-ups only account for 10 percent of the 33-year-old’s offensive actions in the playoffs to date, although he is their most effective (relevant) player with 1.05 points per posession.
Who knows: Maybe he could get the Warriors Defense moving more with sharp passes from the edge of the zone and thus force better throwing possibilities, even if the extra passes work out.
First of all: If Stephen Curry is as on fire as he was in game 2, then you can’t prevent him from hitting three of them, in case of doubt a lot of them. But on that evening with the 9 record three, the chef often had it too easy to fire his throws.
Especially in the transition to the rear, after their own misthrows, the Cavaliers gave the impression that they were not coordinated at all. In several such possessions, Curry faced only two defenders and had little chance to throw – until these two defenders were at odds as to who would take over the Spash Brother and promptly bid farewell to the pass road or another man in a double pack.
Curry will last a few milliseconds to pull the trigger – it doesn’t matter if a defender’s arm is stretched up in the air somewhere. It needs better coordination, which sounds simpler than it is. After all, the Cavs Defense was already rotten throughout the season (only Phoenix was worse), which is why a turnaround seems unlikely here.
But why not take a chance and change the entire defensive concept? The Cavs play similar to the all-switching Rockets. The only trouble is: You don’t have nearly the same individual quality in defense. When suddenly Kevin Love against Curry, Larry Nance against Curry or Smith against Kevin Durant have to go into the one against-one, it gets dark. A more “classic” way of pick and roll defense like a hedge or ice could help, even traps against curry are worth a try (even if that usually doesn’t pay off since Durant’s arrival). But: it can’t get any worse…
Page 1: Player Movement and Defense against Curry
Page 2: Attack Curry, play dirty and take out Clarkson
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