4 things the Cavs can learn from the NBA Finals
Cleveland isn’t as far away as it might seem.
The Cleveland Cavaliers showed throughout the regular season that they were NBA Finals contenders. That didn’t carry over to the playoffs when they were defeated in five games by the Indiana Pacers.
Indiana proved that their win wasn’t a fluke. At the same time, it’s also fair to believe that the series goes much differently if the Cavs are at least close to fully healthy. Still, the Cavs could learn some things from both the champion Oklahoma City Thunder and the Pacers.
Let’s take a look at some of those things now.
Having an identity matters
Indiana and Oklahoma City have drastically different styles. The Pacers want to play quickly, are aggressive with their defense, and are principled in the shots they’re taking offensively. The Thunder are a defensive-first juggernaut that got by on offense thanks to their MVP guard. Even though OKC moved typical starter Isaiah Hartenstein in and out of the starting lineup through the Finals, it was a move to help them better achieve their philosophy in this particular matchup. It wasn’t a change in style.
The champion having a distinct style has been a consistent trend in recent seasons. The 2024 Boston Celtics played very differently from both of these teams with a five-out offense that was predicated on creating and dealing with mismatches on both ends. The Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors title teams before that had very different guiding philosophies.
We’re in an unprecedented parity era in the NBA. That extends to how differently each of these teams is constructed. The style you play doesn't matter. Whether or not you have one and can enforce it upon your opponent does.
This is something the Cavs don’t necessarily have. Their versatility with how many closing lineups they could throw out in the regular season allowed them to thrive in any matchup. For example, they defeated the Thunder in January by beating them up inside and then bested the Celtics at their own game in late February by going small.
That versatility is a good thing and can help in a playoff series. But oftentimes, postseason games are won by the team that can force the other to play their style. The Cavs don’t have a guiding principle or style that they fall back on or force their opponent to match.
This is partially a result of how the team is constructed.
Cleveland’s four best players are there to cover up the others’ deficiencies. You need a small-dynamic backcourt because you have an oversized frontcourt that features a center who isn’t an above-average passer, shooter, or ball handler. But you also need that oversized frontcourt to cover up the backcourt’s lack of defensive abilities. This construction forces one-note rotation players who are there just to hit threes or just to defend on the perimeter.
In the end, this leads to a group whose identity is to cover up for someone else’s weakness. That philosophy easily falls apart in the playoffs. It also isn’t the best way to use the talent on the roster.
There’s no easy fix to that issue. Maybe the only answer is to break up the core and bring back less-skilled pieces who fit better to help. But until the Cavs have their own brand of basketball, it’s difficult to picture them winning it all.
It’s tough to beat everyone else at their own game without having one to hang your hat on.
The Cavs need to handle physicality better on both ends
There’s a difference between toughness and handling physicality well. I’m not sure if anyone would say that the Warriors teams that won four championships were tough. They did, however, handle physicality extremely well. The same was true for both Finals teams this season.
The Thunder and Pacers played with a level of physicality that the Cavs haven’t shown they can consistently handle on either end of the floor. This was one of many things that led to their downfall in the second round.
There isn’t one way to overcome that. Darius Garland and Evan Mobley continuing to add weight and strength would help, but there’s more to it than that. Both Indiana and Oklahoma City thrived and embraced the more physical playoff style. This Cavs core hasn’t done that in any of their previous postseason trips.
Cleveland has figured out the formula for regular-season basketball well. That hasn’t carried over to the playoffs, where the terms of engagement are different. This is something head coach Kenny Atkinson called out in May. But unless the NBA changes how it’s operated for eight decades, it doesn’t seem like that’s going to change. The Cavs are going to be the ones that need to adjust to the league, not the other way around.
You can’t have enough play initiators
Increased physicality means that you need more options to create plays. Especially on a team whose primary ball handlers are 6’3” and under.
Indiana was able to counteract Oklahoma City’s physicality through the first six games with ball movement and having different players attack and initiate the action. Tyrese Haliburton was the main cog in the offense. But he acted more as the conductor of a symphony than he did as a bus driver who was simply there to take his teammates with him on the journey.
In the playoffs, it often felt like Donovan Mitchell was trying to single-handedly will his team to victory. There were justifiable reasons for why that was the case — mainly that the second and third best players on the team were injured in the second round — but that style of play isn’t ultimately going to get it done.
Whether or not Cleveland’s role players were incapable of stepping up or weren’t allowed to do so is something you can reasonably debate both sides of. Cleveland’s roster isn’t full of playoff-level play initiators outside of their top-three players. But at the same time, this was a pretty egalitarian offense in the regular season.
Atkinson’s offense was much more like a symphony in the regular season. Figuring out how to carry that over into the postseason is the next step.
Depth is more important than ever
Pat Riley relied on an old saying for the playoffs: “Use eight, rotate seven, play six, and trust five.” That mantra helped lead Riley to nine championship rings. Having five players you could count on used to separate the good from the great teams. Now, it seems like you need eight or nine players you can trust to win a title.
The Thunder and Pacers both had that. As important as stars were in the series, the winner of the game was often determined by which team’s role players stepped up.
The Cavs’ reserves excelled throughout the regular season, but disappeared in the playoffs.
Injuries are the main reason for this. Players were asked to play a role or two above their preferred slots and unsurprisingly failed to carry the additional weight. This led to Cleveland’s entire bench falling like a house of cards.
The main takeaway shouldn’t be that Cleveland’s bench can’t handle playoff environments. Instead, it should be that any moves the Cavs make this offseason need to be done to increase their playable options. This isn’t a team in a position to consolidate rotation pieces for an upgrade — like Kevin Durant. Instead, the Cavs need to retain the salary slots on their roster and possibly find more playable players in any trade that sends out a core member.
This is easier said than done. The second apron and luxury tax are designed to squeeze the edges of rosters so that teams aren’t willing to pay the huge bill that comes with appropriately paying the sixth through ninth men on a roster. But if the Cavs realistically want to compete for a championship next season, they need to bite the bullet and do so.
That doesn’t mean you can’t attach assets and trade an Isaac Okoro or Dean Wade away for a better-fitting player. It does, however, mean that you will get worse in a noticeable way if you were to move them or anyone else in a pure salary dump.
The eighth or ninth players have never been more important in the NBA.
The Cavs' inability to carry over what worked in the regular season into the playoffs will make it difficult to trust them heading into future postseasons. They will understandably need to prove it before people believe. That fact doesn’t mean this team is far away from winning a championship.
This upcoming season is shaping up to be this core’s best chance at a trip to the Finals, with how open the Eastern Conference seems like it’s going to be. We’ll see if Koby Altman and the rest of the front office can figure out how to add the finishing touches on a roster that needs to figure out how to carry over their elite play from the regular season into the playoffs.