Cavs defensive breakdown: Defense is a ‘little bit like youth soccer’

Examining why the Cavaliers continue to struggle to defend the three-point line

Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson wasn’t pleased with his team’s defense a day after their 120-117 loss to the Boston Celtics earlier this week.

“[A] little bit like youth soccer,” Atkinson said of his team’s defensive performance. “We all kind of go to the ball. And then it’s like, come on guys. We had that one under control.”

Five out offenses have given the Cavs problems this year. That was on display on Tuesday as Cleveland kept helping off of Boston’s shooters. This is what the Celtics want.

Boston’s offense is lethal in its simplicity and cold, calculating efficiency. They spread the floor and bait the off-ball defenders to take a step away from their assignment when the ball-handler makes their push to the paint. When the defender flinches, they make the easy pass out to where the movement came from.

“We just do the simple things, the right reads, all the time, or most of the time,” Jayson Tatum said afterward. “Regardless of how the game is going, or shots are falling — it’s all about making the right reads. The game will reward that.”

The below clip illustrates that perfectly. Darius Garland had Jaylen Brown in front of him and could’ve put a decent contest on the drive. Ty Jerome sneaks off of Jrue Holiday to provide some support, but he can’t recover by the time Brown recognizes the help and makes the simple pass. A late contest doesn’t do much against Boston.

“I still believe you gotta protect your rim and protect your paint,” Atkinson said. “Then, it’s [about] finding that appropriate help. I do think we got caught probably five, six, seven times where we did not read the drive correctly. If the drive is controlled, there’s no need to help right?”

Atkinson is correct. This wasn’t an isolated incident as Boston went 22-41 (53.7%) from beyond the arc. Many of these were situations where the Cavs slightly helped off of their man and didn’t do much good in the process. They neither prevented the drive nor were able to make a contest when the ball went back to their original man.

“It’s tough to read if you want to help or if you don’t want to help,” Evan Mobley said. “It’s kind of like pick your poison. We just got to do a better job of guarding our guard.”

“It’s just [about] staying home,” Jarrett Allen said. “We have two good rim-protecting bigs, Evan and I, and even a lot of guards that can protect the rim. I think we get a little too happy protecting the rim at times. All of us, guards and bigs included.”

This problem has hurt the Cavs all season. The Celtics just shined a light on what’s been hiding under the surface of their 15-straight victories to open the season.

Cleveland has registered the eighth-best defensive rating which is below their league-wide standing in the previous three seasons. They’re doing as good of a job defending the rim as they have in previous years. It’s the outside shot that’s made the difference as opponents are shooting 39% from three. That’s the second-worst percentage in the league for a defense.

The Cavaliers have shown to be one of the best teams in the league as evidenced by their 16-1 record. But they will need to clean up this area if they want to seriously challenge Boston in the Eastern Conference. You can’t get past the Celtics with this type of perimeter defense. Additionally, this is only going to become a bigger issue as more and more teams try to copy Boston’s blueprint.

“It’s just what the league has become,” Atkinson said. “We got to be aware of this and shift our defense a little bit to understand and cover the three-point line better.”