Max Strus’s zone defense saved the Cavs: ‘He was the coach for a day’

Strus has still found a way to contribute even when he isn’t on the floor.

The Cleveland Cavaliers keep winning, but it hasn’t been because of their defense. It seemed like that was going to be the case again as they allowed the Charlotte Hornets to put up 40 points in the third quarter, but then something changed. Charlotte went just 6-21 from the field with just 15 points in the final frame leading to Cleveland’s 15th straight victory.

“We switched our defense a little bit, went to zone and I feel like that really slowed them up,” Evan Mobley said. “I like our versatility with the zone. ... We have a lot of different options that we could show people. I feel like we did that tonight.”

This worked because it cut down on the drive-and-kick game that led to so many open triples through the first three quarters. The Cavs over willingness to help on drives left them in a position where they couldn’t rotate back out to the shooter on the perimeter. This was most apparent when their best point-of-attack defenders, Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade, weren’t on the floor.

“The zone definitely saved us,” Darius Garland said. “They were just getting downhill, they’re playing five out, so none of our rim protectors were in the paint. [They were] just driving it and had the swing, swings for wide open threes.”

The zone cuts out the over-helping as the perimeter defender is constantly rotating to a shooter even when they’re beaten off the dribble. There’s also a rim protector waiting for them if they get to the basket. This was difficult for a team like Charlotte, which shoots the second-most threes in the league, to handle. They ended up just trying to shoot over a stationary defense that can put a good contest on the attempt.

The Hornets also tried to get to the middle of the floor and take contested jumpers which is always going to be a win for the defense even when they make tough twos.

“It’s an excellent zone, it’s an excellent scheme about how we guard the zone, shoutout to Max [Strus],” Allen said. “He kind of put the zone in. He was a coach for a day, telling us where to be, and how to guard certain things.”

Strus’s instructions led to a disciplined zone against Charlotte much like the ones Erik Spoelstra is famous for with the Miami Heat. Strus seemed to have picked up a thing or two from his run to the NBA Finals with Spoelstra.

“[We’re] still learning from him even though he’s on the sideline,” Garland said. “He’s still preaching about the zone. So even at film [sessions], he’s standing up [at] the board, like pointing where we need to be. So it’s good to see. I mean he knows it really well. Coach Max is doing pretty good.”

The Hornets aren’t a good basketball team, but they play a similar, albeit watered-down, offense as the Boston Celtics. That’s by design. Charlotte head coach Charles Lee spent last year as an assistant with the Celtics and was under Mike Budenholzer with the Milwaukee Bucks before that. Both systems are known for their principled spacing and reliance on the drive-and-kick game to generate outside looks. Lee has done a good job of implementing that in Charlotte even though he doesn’t have the talent of either of those teams.

We’ll have to wait until Tuesday to see if this zone works against a much better Celtics offense. What we do know is that the zone that Strus was a part of in Miami did work against Boston in the 2023 playoffs. The blueprint is there. And right now, the players also have confidence in the zone. At the very least, they now have a curveball to keep Joe Mazzulla’s team off balance.

“Just our energy in the zone,” Allen said. “We communicate well, we know when to box out. We know that if Evan goes I have his back. It’s just a good team of movement that works well together.”