As the Cleveland Cavaliers get ready for the Boston Celtics in the second round of the NBA Playoffs, ESPN recently named their biggest strength as a team.
Despite being banged up heading into the playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers were able to knock out the Orlando Magic and advance to the second round. The home court certainly played a big factor for the Cavaliers, as they played some excellent basketball at Quicken Loans Arena in the series.
As a franchise that heavily invested in getting Donovan Mitchell to help put them into the conversation as a contender in the Eastern Conference, winning a playoff series was a big deal.
Now, the Cavaliers will be tasked with trying to beat arguably the best team in the conference, the Boston Celtics, in four of their potential next seven games. This will certainly be no easy task, but the Cavaliers do have talent on their team and anything can happen in a long series.
Recently, ESPN spoke about the biggest strength of the Cavaliers is their team defense. Here’s what they had to say.
As a team, the Cavs were tied for ninth in defensive iso efficiency, limiting their need to double-team, which could be crucial against Jayson Tatum and the Celtics. Among the remaining playoff teams in the Eastern Conference, only the Knicks have been stingier.
As mentioned, the Cavaliers were one of the best defensive teams in the league this season. Against the Celtics, their defense will certainly be tested, as the Celtics can beat you in a lot of different ways.
One positive for the Cleveland Cavaliers is that they won’t have to worry about Kristaps Porzingis in the series. Not having Porzingis will affect the Celtics’ ability to space the floor and should make things a bit easier for Cleveland.
Even though Porzingis is sidelined, the Cleveland Cavaliers would ideally like to not have to worry about potentially double-teaming either Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown. If they can play mostly 1v1 defense, it will go a long way toward helping them pull off an upset.
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