Urgelt
Urgelt
Jul 20, 2017 · 1 min read

Bah. The Cavs have enough talent. Really, they do.

Where they failed against GSW in the finals was:

— Minutes management. Too often, they ran out of steam in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Their stars were exhausted, while GSW’s stars still had gas in the tank.

— Defensive drilling. Too often, their players just didn’t know where they were supposed to be or what they were supposed to be doing on defense, particularly transition defense. That made a big difference in GSW’s favor in two very close games in the finals and contributed to two blowouts.

— Overemphasis on isolation plays. Iso takes a tremendous lot of energy to execute successfully. Too much of it leads, again, to exhaustion at the game’s end. The Cavs need a playbook that shifts emphasis more to passing, particularly for Kyrie.

— Only two players were allowed to generate plays for the Cavs: LeBron and Kyrie. They were the kings; everyone else was a serf. It’s real hard to generate any surprises that way. They need a more varied playbook that engages more players in playmaking creation.

Even with these coaching missteps, the Cavs blew out the Warriors once in the finals. They’ve got the talent. They just need smarter coaching, more defensive drilling, and broader engagement for the players not named LeBron and Kyrie.

)
    Urgelt

    Written by

    Urgelt

    Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
    Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
    Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade