When the Cavaliers shocked the Warriors in last year’s NBA Finals, a few things made it possible. The biggest, most simplest explanation is that Cleveland had LeBron James and Golden State did not. But more specifically, the Cavaliers had an elite offense driven by James and Kyrie Irving, and they had a top-10 defense that performed well in the final three games in particular.
The Cavaliers’ poor defense meant they were doomed in the NBA Finals all along
The Warriors exposed a defense that was already in decline.
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
In retrospect, the Cavs never had a real chance this year. That isn’t because the Warriors added Kevin Durant, though that didn’t help. It’s because that Cavaliers were terrible on defense, just like they’d been for months leading up to this series.
The 2015-16 Cavs finished 10th in the league in points allowed per 100 possessions during the regular season. They were not great at keeping the ball out of their own hoop, but they were passable. They became stronger in some respects down the stretch, culminating when they kept the Warriors under 102 points in each of Games 5, 6, and 7. When Cleveland clawed back from that 3-1 deficit, its team defense was making it possible all along.
This year’s Cavaliers didn’t build on that. They went in the wrong direction.
They played smaller lineups, which helped their offense get even better than it was. But they paid for it on defense. They gave meaningful minutes to Kyle Korver, Deron Williams, and Channing Frye, and their defense was worse when those players were on the court. They fell from 10th to 22nd in defensive efficiency, and even that doesn’t tell the story of how bad things got. After the All-Star break, they were 29th for the rest of the regular season.
The light switch only sometimes flipped on for the playoffs. The Cavaliers mostly shut down the offenses of the Raptors and Celtics, the two teams they faced in the middle of their run. The Pacers had scored plenty on them in the first round, and then the Warriors set them on fire. Golden State scored 117.5 points per 100 possessions in these Finals. For context, the worst defensive team in the league this year, the Lakers, gave up 111 points per 100 trips. The Cavaliers were helpless.
Why was Cleveland’s defense so bad?
It’s hard to say for sure, but a lack of defensive interest and those offense-heavy lineups probably had roles to play. The Cavs’ primary group of James, Irving, J.R. Smith, Kevin Love, and Tristan Thompson was a particular defensive disaster against the Warriors. When that lineup was on the floor, Golden State’s offensive rating was 129.2. In the Finals, Cleveland played better defense when Korver replaced Thompson, which makes some sense given Golden State’s size and speed. But Cleveland’s own offense cratered with that lineup on the floor, anyway.
Cleveland hasn’t looked locked in on defense for months, and the Cavaliers have been aware of the problem all the while.
“Coaches, we gotta be better, but players they gotta be better too,” head coach Tyronn Lue said after a 126-113 loss to the Nuggets in March. “They gotta be tougher. Gotta be more urgency, and it comes from all of us. They got three-point shots, they got points in the paint, they got offensive rebounds. They got whatever they wanted. And we gotta be better than that.
“It starts with the coaches but the players gotta look at themselves in the mirror, too. They gotta be more physical, they gotta bring a physical presence and they’ve got to take pride in guarding their man.”
Golden State had too many weapons. The Cavaliers were swept because they could do nothing to stop Durant, Steph Curry, and Klay Thompson from raining down jumpers to devastating effect. For the series, 51.2 percent of Golden State’s shots came without a single dribble being taken. On those, the Warriors had an effective shooting percentage of 59.9. They passed brilliantly, caught those passes, and made it rain. They were a freight train.
The Cavaliers were even better on offense in these Finals, but their defense got blown from the water, eliminating any chance they might’ve had at forging a competitive series.
The trajectory of the Cavs’ season suggests they were doomed all along.
Flipping that switch and immediately playing suitable defense after not doing it for months is difficult. Doing it against Golden State’s absurd collection of basketball talent was impossible. The Warriors exposed them so many times. Like this one:
And this one:
The Warriors don’t need much time to make a defense pay for the smallest mistakes. Durant, Curry, and Thompson are snipers, and the Cavaliers’ poor communication and occasional lack of focus gave them more than they needed.
The Cavs have James, and they’re so much better than the rest of the Eastern Conference that whatever bad habits they’d fallen into didn’t kill them until now. But the Warriors have a way of humbling teams.
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