RealGM

Let's talk in game strategies we can employ to beat the Cavs in the regular season and playoffs. How do we defend the trio of Irving/Love/Lebron? And what defensive weaknesses of theirs can we look to exploit?

I dont think Irving/Love/Lebron is as good as Lebron/Wade/Bosh

Kemba and Irving is a wash IMO, Irving might be more talented offensively, but his defense leaves a lot to be desired, Kemba will still get his. The Combination of MKG and Lance can slow down Lebron, but Lebron will get his regardless, however I don't know how his weight loss will affect his game. Love is a stat sheet stuffer but again defensively he is garbage, they have no one who can defend Big AL 1 on 1. Sideshow bob won't exploit Big AL's weakness on defense

I don't think this trio is anywhere as good as the Miami one was either. Those three were difference makers on both sides of the court, Love and Kyrie on the otherhand? Not so much. That said Cleveland is in a better position to add complimentary pieces than Miami was, and that is what has me worried. I think we are one of the few teams in the East that has the pieces to defend the Cavs. As long as they lack a rim protector we should be able to exploit that pretty effectively as well. I think they're going to be able to land Koufos or Mozgov though, so we're really going to have to buckle down and work to get better offensively if we want to beat them.

Better now or better at the start? Miami was better first two maybe three years, but this trio is better than the Miami trio last year and what it would have been this upcoming year.

Cleveland is a bit of a wildcard because of Platt. Who knows what kind of offensive and defensive philosophies he's going to roll out.

EwingSweatsALot wrote:Better now or better at the start? Miami was better first two maybe three years, but this trio is better than the Miami trio last year and what it would have been this upcoming year.

*Better offensively

Both Irving and Love are terrible defenders. Varejoa is a terrific player for the 50 ish games he plays a season. And Tristan Thompson likely will be stuck on the bench behind Love.

Moreover I'm not sold on the Cavs depth quite yet.


I think that we beat the Cavs by dominating the ball for the majority of the game (abusing the shot clock), forcing them off the perimeter, and hard fouling them on drives.

I think a Pacers grind it out style gameplan will work just as well against the Cavs as it did the Heat, especially if Varejao is hurt and not playing. I'm confident we can defend them, but for us to beat them in the playoffs we're going to need MKG and Zeller to make major strides.

May not be able to stop them if LeBron lets Kyrie actually play PG and Kyrie tries on defense. They'll have oodles of shooting but their depth is suspect so as long as we keep up with their starters' offense we should be able to hang. If you keep it close you always have a chance b/c LeBron turns into a passive wuss in the clutch half the time.

Having Lance and Marvin on the roster now gives us a lot of flexibility with our lineups if Clifford is willing to get creative. We can essentially play Stephenson together with almost any of our other wings because of his size and offensive versatility. We could also use Williams and MKG interchangeably between the 3 and 4 a bit.

We could even go big with a bench lineup of:

Lance
Neal
Williams
Vonleh
Biyombo

This group would absolutely kill smaller, unathletic benches. Our depth and versatility is going to be a huge strength for us if we take advantage of it.

Kemba vs Irving = Irving
Lance vs Waiters = Lance
LeBron vs MKG = LeBron
Love vs Marvin/Zeller = Love
Al vs Anderson = Al

Bench
Roberts vs Dellevedova = Roberts
Neal vs Miller? =Neal
Gerald vs Marion? = Gerald
Zeller/Marvin vs Thompson = Thompson
Biz vs Haywood = Biz

Im honestly more scared of the Bulls with D-Rose

We do match up better against the Cavs than we do the Bulls. I actually think other than Chicago we have the best chance of beating Cleveland in the playoffs. Washington does not match up well with them and neither does Miami. Derozan is a good defender, but I don't think Toronto has enough perimeter defense outside of him to contain Lebron and Kyrie.

lots of guys with injury history on that squad - irving, love, varejao, miller. hoping that each year they have a couple of guys who are either out or dealing with nagging injuries.

I think Lebron slimming down greatly helps MKG. He'll be easier to manage now that he isn't some 275 pound freight train driving to the basket. I think Lebron realizes if he wants to play til 40 he has to slow down, play more on the perimeter and stop taking so much abuse so his knees and back don't give out.

The Cavs won't be a finals threat this season IMO. There will be huge growing pains. The Bulls are flat out better. Washington, Charlotte, and Atlanta are all capable of making a run in a series against the Cavs.

I think we are the best team, outside the Bulls, to beat the Cavs in a series. Kemba/Irving and Love/Al is a wash. None of them play much D and each will get their numbers. Outside of that, I think we are one of the better equipped teams to defend Lebron. Rotating MKG, Lance, and occasionally Hendo/Taylor on him should keep everyone pretty fresh and not have one guy carry the load of defending LBJ. The biggest weakness of ours that the Cavs have is outside shooting. Our guys have to step up and hit shots when Kemba/Lance penetrates and kicks. We can't get into a shootout with these guys; we have to take care of the ball, take quality shots, and let Al exploit the Cavs interior D without having him get in foul trouble on the other end.

*cue Dwight Shrute voice*

We don't stop the Cavs. We simply wait. In exactly five years time, their team will have maxed out their winnings and will be going downhill. That's when we pounce. Like a pack of ravage bees stinging at their very soul. Our core will be in their primes. Until then, we do not stop the Cavs. We make the second round. We make the conference finals. But we do not need to stop the Cavs.

It's too early for me to predict. I'm currently uncertain on how good either of the Hornets or the Cavaliers could be next season. However, I think we match up well with Cleveland for the simple fact that MKG can maintain & neutralize LeBron from doing whatever he want offensively. It's going to be interesting to see how much LeBron will miss Wade and if Love could exponentially supplant Bosh's contributions based on the superficial. Also interesting will be how does ball-dominant players like Kyrie & Waiters fare with the ultimate ball-dominant star in LeBron

Play Lebron straight up with MKG, or Lance and don't help off their shooters. It doesn't matter if Lebron gets 40 as long as we shut down the other guys. Vonleh has the size to bang with love in the post and the length to contest his shot. Try to turn irving into a jump shooter, any time he goes to the hole make him pay the price with a hard foul.

GoBobs wrote:Play Lebron straight up with MKG, or Lance and don't help off their shooters. It doesn't matter if Lebron gets 40 as long as we shut down the other guys. Vonleh has the size to bang with love in the post and the length to contest his shot. Try to turn irving into a jump shooter, any time he goes to the hole make him pay the price with a hard foul.

Vonleh is no match for Love, yet. He would draw so many fouls. Maybe later on but right now Love would be lickin his chops to take Vonleh to school.

I agree Williams and Zeller both stand a better chance of guarding Love at this point in time. Marvin's length should help him a lot when contesting shots against jump shooting bigs like Love. His ability to defend bigs on the perimeter and shoot from distance is why we paid so much to get him. He was the best player on the market to fill that role. I think this board will be happy to have him on the team when we're playing teams like the Cavs, Raptors, Hawks, Heat, Blazers, etc. that have jump shooting power forwards.

I have a feeling that come trade deadline that we'll be trying to trade for better immediate talent at the PF position (and backup PG). Neither of Cody Zeller or Marvin Williams stand a chance against Kevin Love. Love would consistently put up close to 30+ points and 15+ rebounds against Zeller & Williams