CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers ran away with a stress-free 112-84 win over a bad Brooklyn Nets team. Let’s get into what that means for the Cavs moving forward.
Head coach Kenny Atkinson is known for his motion-based offense. That free-flowing system is one of the things that made him so attractive in 2024 to a Cavaliers team that couldn’t figure out how to make it work on that end with their two big configuration. J.B. Bickerstaff’s stagnant offense, based mostly on high pick-and-rolls, didn’t work with that roster.
Hiring Atkinson transformed the offensive attack, but the James Harden trade has changed everything again. They won’t be reverting to what they were under Bickerstaff, but there’s going to be much more high pick-and-rolls than what we saw from the best regular-season offense in the league last year.
Right now, the Cavs are pick-and-roll merchants. They’ve spammed it over the past four games and have had great success doing so. Given their personnel, there’s no reason to see that changing anytime soon.
“It’s a lot of things,” Nets head coach Jordi Fernández said before the game when asked what makes a good pick-and-roll player. “It’s not just ball handling, but it’s also how you use your body. It’s how you set up the pick-and-roll, how you prepare the play. … Good pick-and-roll players can destroy every coverage.”
The Cavs guards did that, particularly their newest one.
Brooklyn decided to trap Harden on ball screens. He countered by accepting the double team and coolly making the right read time after time.
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“It’s almost like a quarterback leading a receiver,” Atkinson said about Harden’s playmaking. “You don’t have to wait for it. You catch it kind of in stride.”
Jarrett Allen has been the biggest beneficiary of this type of offense. He once again dominated inside. And unlike his previous strong showings, he did so with Evan Mobley on the court as well.
The immediate chemistry with Harden and Allen has stood out. They both seem to understand where the other is at all times, despite playing just four games together. This speaks to how good both are and how well their talent fits.
“Being on the outside, I can say he’s better than I thought he was in the sense he’s able to catch the ball, finish around the rim with both hands,” Harden said of Allen. “He has so much touch around the rim, and that’s probably one of the most underrated parts of his game.”
Allen is a good vertical spacer. He can sky up for alley-oops and finish those as good as any rim-running center. That can sometimes obscure how technically sound Allen is as a scorer inside. The combination of both skills has led to him converting 77% of his looks in the restricted area this season (87th percentile) and 82% since the new year (95th percentile).
It’d be wrong to credit Harden entirely for Allen’s good play. His passing just allows Allen to showcase those skills more consistently.
“James and [Allen] have a great connection, and everybody is really feeding off that,” Mitchell said.
It’s also worth pointing out that Allen is playing more aggressively. The Cavs have made a better effort of getting him involved earlier and are reaping the reward for doing so.
The best version of Allen is one that is actively hunting for ways to be involved offensively. He’s been doing so recently.
“He’s been a beast, just super aggressive,” Mobley said of Allen. “Every single time he sees a mismatch or anything, he’s going down to the paint and getting two points every single time. We need that from him.”
Mitchell’s scoring continues to benefit from playing alongside Harden. Harden was able to set Mitchell up for one of the best alley-oops of the season with a pass that even Mitchell said he didn’t think he was going to finish. But more importantly, the space that Mitchell has when the defense is keying in on another dynamic guard has given him much more room to attack.
As we’ve seen with Mitchell, he really doesn’t need too much room to make defenses pay.
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The Cavs are still figuring things out offensively. They have only had one practice since the Harden trade, and most of the work they’ve done is in film sessions so far. That will presumably limit what they can implement.
That said, they are working on building a system that best fits their offensive pieces. Atkinson is using these next few weeks as an “observation period” to see what works and what doesn’t. At this point, it doesn’t seem like he’s rigidly clinging to any one system, but would seemingly prefer a blend of both a heavy pick-and-roll and movement-based offense.
“You got to lean on your best player’s strengths,” Atkinson said. “That’s part of this observation period. [We need to find out] how much moving and cutting we want. We’re still doing a fair amount. But you know, you just got to be careful against a blitz, because if you start running guys away and into the lane, you know, James has no outlet. So it’s almost like you have to have a blitz package and read that. And then when you’re in a normal coverage, we can do our cutting.”
Things couldn’t have gotten off to a better start in the James Harden Era. The team is clicking on all cylinders. I’ve mostly talked about the offense, but the defense was superb as well, as they registered their best defensive rating in a single game this season.
It’d be unwise to make too grand a proclamation after four games, especially considering the defenses they’ve gone up against. At the same time, it’d be difficult not to be optimistic about where this could go.
“This little winning streak has been nice, but you definitely see the level we’re at now,” Dean Wade said. “It’s a little higher than it has been.”
It most certainly is.
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