FILM BREAKDOWN: What went wrong for the Cleveland Cavaliers defensively against the OKC Thunder?
The Cleveland Cavaliers were 6-0 in the James Harden era before running into the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.
OKC knocked down 21 3s in the game and grabbed some crucial offensive rebounds late that ended up being the Cavs demise.
Let’s break down the film to figure out what went wrong & how Kenny Atkinson and company can fix it before tip-off against the Knicks.
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11 Comments
The early start also factored into why the Cav’s lost the game. This to me is why the entire starting lineup had slow energy.
Why would they keep running that zone if it was wasn’t working i wanted to jump thru the tv and tell them to get out that zone!!!
Excellent review… Live I was screaming at the TV: "Why are the Cavs all just standing there watching OKC SCORE… DO Something!!!!"
I think you’re going to see a bigger learning curve on the defensive end specifically with Harden. There’s times Mobley and Allen over helped because that’s what they’ve done with Garland the post four years. It killed us a ton yesterday
They Stand Around and Watch Rebounds🏀🏀🏀 They're Major Downfall
Love these film breakdowns. I completely agree with you that the two main factors are overhelping and not enough urgency on the defensive glass. The first one should be correctable with more reps together, the second one imo really needs the coaches to put a spotlight on it in film sessions and call out the lack of effort from each player to rebound at times. The first clip is horrible, specially from Ellis. It’s like he’s just expecting the rebound to come perfectly to him, completely gives up on the play after Holmgren gets past him. And Ellis has been excellent on defense and effort overall but that was a pretty bad moment.
Mobley is really not that good and looks no better than last year or the year before, he is only a player that could be, but not possible, its a dream, in fact he hurts JA performance while he is on the court, look at JA numbers without him, look how much better the OF flows, Mobley can't hit 3's, he dribbles and dribbles and then forces shots or loses the ball, he not physical nor capable of being so. Have him come off the bench to give JA some rest, then let JA play his game and do what he does best, run, score under and around the basket and play great D. I said for 3 years JA is better, but the Cav's were only looking at Mobley and what they thought he could be, and that is not going to happen, to many games now and to many years, he is what he is, a very expensive backup.
Our rebounders are Mobley , Allen, Tomlin ,Tyson. OKC was smart to put pressure on them to keep them from staying on the floor and rebounding. That left our bigs to defend and rebound by themselves…. including Wade
Evan Mobley needs to be traded, he is very overrated and holds this team back. Very clumsy and lowe basketball IQ
What went wrong? MOBLEY……The reigning dpoy max salary player should lead his team's defense and call out teammates. A 7 foot player must get more than 2 rebounds. Bench him and start Tomlin, at least we'll get maximum effort. We might see a big trade this summer: Mobley and Strus for LeBron and a draft pick.
Nope—this was on Kenny Atkinson, his zone, and going small.
He tried the same approach last year and it failed then, too. At some point, either Kenny or someone on that roster has to light a fire during critical moments and make a decisive adjustment.
When the game was tied, that was the moment to feed Allen inside, force the defense to collapse, then turn up the pressure on the opposing guards up top. Instead, they stayed passive, let the rhythm slip, and never seized control.
Those are coaching moments—and leadership moments—that decide close games.