Cavaliers vs. Knicks has been a battle of bad spacing

The Cavaliers and Knicks both struggle with spacing and outside shooting. The battle to adjust and compensate has been the story of the series.

After two games, the highly-anticipated first-round matchup between the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks is even at one game a piece. But how did we get here?

The Cavaliers got shell shocked in Game 1

The Knicks, the 19th-ranked defense in the regular season (114.2 in defensive rating), held the Cavaliers to an offensive rating of 102.1 by exploiting their biggest weakness — a lack of shooting and spacing.

Cleveland is one of the only high-level teams that regularly deploy two or three non-shooters on the court at the same time. They are willing to live with this from their twin towers, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, because they provide enough value in other areas to make it work.

However, with their fifth starter, Isaac Okoro, the hope is that he can hit enough open shots and drive enough closeouts to make the defense pay for leaving him unattended.

The Knicks were willing to bet against Okoro being able to make them pay in a playoff setting, so as a result, they had his man help off him and sink into the paint.

New York was rewarded for this gamble, as Okoro went 0-of-4 from 3 in Game 1, and his star-studded teammates – Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland – were met by a sea of bodies every time they ventured into the restricted area.

A new hero emerges

After the same trend began to take shape in Game 2 and Okoro picked up two early fouls, Cleveland decided it was time to take a different direction.

At first, this new direction was Cedi Osman, but after some more tinkering, the team caught lightning in a bottle with Caris LeVert. LeVert struggled in Game 1, scoring 3 points on 1-for-7 shooting and the Cavs were outscored by 14 points with him on the floor.

However, Game 2 was a different movie for the seventh-year pro out of Michigan — he posted 24 points and three assists on 9-of-16 shooting and the Cavs plus-23 with him the game. But more important than anything, LeVert was making the Knicks’ defense pay for helping off him to pack the paint.

On the season, LeVert converted 38.9 percent of his 311 open or wide-open 3-point attempts. For reference, that is a higher volume and percentage than not only Okoro, but Cedi Osman, Dean Wade, and Lamar Stevens (the other wing or forward options on Cleveland’s bench).

On top of that, where New York could give Jalen Brunson a break on defense by hiding him on Okoro, LeVert was able to leverage his bucket-getter loadout to attack Brunson off-the-dribble.

So now, not only does Brunson have to shoulder a large burden on offense, but he’s also got to be constantly on his toes on defense. Remember, these are human beings playing this game, and human beings have a tendency to get tired!

The Cavaliers strike back!

We know what you’re thinking: if LeVert is such a better offensive player than Okoro, why didn’t they just turn to him in the first place?

While LeVert is clearly a better offensive player, Okoro has him beat on the defensive side of the ball. That is especially true as it pertains to Brunson. According to NBA.com’s Matchup Data, in the regular season, Brunson was just 2-for-11 from the floor (18.2 percent) on shots where he was defended by Okoro. Meanwhile, against LeVert, he shot 8-for-14 (57.1 percent). These stats are noisy and should be taken with a grain of salt, but they certainly match the eye test and other indicators.

So, the thinking among the Cavaliers’ coaching staff is that Okoro’s defensive contributions would outweigh his offensive shortcomings in this series. The problem is that they made a minor miscalculation.

They underestimated how great of a scorer New York’s Southpaw really is. This season, Brunson is in the 88th percentile in isolation volume and the 84th percentile in efficiency (per NBA.com). Simply put, he’s going to get buckets 1-on-1 regardless of how good his defender might be.

However, just like the Cavaliers, the Knicks also struggle with spacing/shooting. Of the 16 teams that made the playoffs, the Knicks rank 12th in regular season 3-point percentage.

So, Cleveland decided that they were going to slow down Brunson and give New York a taste of their own medicine in one fell swoop. To do this, in Game 2 the Cavaliers started to send two defenders at Brunson.

This gave the Knicks an automatic 4-on-3 advantage. But thanks to a combination of Cleveland’s defensive personnel (regularly playing multiple rim protectors) and New York’s inability to capitalize on these situations because of their spacing, the Cavaliers could live with this concession.

Since Cleveland was now sending multiple defenders at Brunson anyway, the defensive difference between Okoro and LeVert was less meaningful. So, Cleveland is now able to enjoy the offensive benefits that LeVert brings to the dance while also not being crippled by his on-ball defense.

Is New York out of moves?

Do you really think one of the hardest first-round matchups to predict going into the playoffs would be over after one team delivered one counterpunch? Of course not! The Knicks are far from out of moves.

As for specific Game 3 prescriptions, on defense, it might be best to keep their formula largely the same. Obviously, there will always be some more granular tweaks. But at the end of the day, the Cavaliers have had spacing/shooting concerns all season. LeVert has been on the roster for the duration of these issues, so if he truly was the antidote to the problem, we’d probably know it by now.

So far, he’s had one stinker and one masterpiece. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep helping off him in Game 3 to verify that Game 2 wasn’t just an aberration. At the very least, Cleveland still has Mobley and Allen for New York to sag off of, so they will still be able to pack the paint regardless of whether LeVert is knocking down his shots or not.

The real significant adjustments should be coming on offense. Cleveland exposed the Knicks’ own spacing and shooting shortcomings in Game 2. But New York has a little bit more shooting in their war chest than the Cavaliers.

Randle has only played four percent of his minutes this year at center, per Basketball-Reference. Maybe it is time to use him as a small-ball 5 in a lineup featuring him, Brunson, Immanuel Quickley, Josh Hart, and Quentin Grimes? That would give New York five theoretically credible shooters that could make Cleveland pay for conceding a 4-on-3 advantage by bringing two defenders at Brunson.

Coach Tom Thibodeau has been criticized over the years for his archaic style, but he’s shown a willingness to evolve this season (at least to some degree). Is this the next phase in his maturation as a coach?

Who knows. The only thing that is certain from here on out is the team that wins the spacing battle will ultimately be the one who wins the war.

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