The Cavs managed to return to .500 by shooting down the visiting Seventy-Sixers last night. After an inconsistent first half, they took control in the third quarter and never really looked back.
One area that stuck out to me tonight was perimeter defense. In the first half, the Cavs simply weren’t contesting any shots outside of the paint. Some times it was because of late rotations, other times a seeming unwillingness to close out. The Sixers took advantage of these open mid-range and long-range shots until half time, knocking down 7 of 15 shots outside the paint in the first quarter and 7 of 14 in the second quarter.
However, there was a major course-correction on this front in the second half. For the final 24 minutes, the Cavs seemed to make defending the perimeter—and defending in general—a much higher priority. The second half saw the Sixers take only 17 more shots from outside the paint and connect on only 3 of them (17.6% FG, if you’re keeping track).
On its own, this fact could hide an ugly truth, i.e. the Sixers took fewer shots from outside because the Cavs’ interior D was weak. Thankfully this wasn’t the case. The Cavs were also defensively efficient in the paint in the second half, holding Philly to 7 of 17 there (41.2% FG).
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Byron Scott benched Glitch about halfway through the third quarter and kept him there for the rest of the game. He was getting consistently lit up for most of the first half. But with Joey Graham and Jamison as the front line, the vise started to tighten. And boy, is that a sentence I never expected to write.
Overall, the Sixers shot only 43.0% for the game and managed only 93 points. I would love to give you the defensive efficiency numbers, but Hoop Data’s advanced stat box scores haven’t yet been posted for last night’s games as I’m writing this. But the strong defense complemented a more fluid offense—28 assists leading to 37 overall FGs and 8 of 20 three-pointers (40% 3FG)—to create a relatively complete game for the team.
They’ll have their work cut out for them with back-to-back road games against New Orleans and San Antonio this weekend, but better for them to head into those games with a little momentum. We’ll see how they hold up in comparison to some of the league’s best on Friday and Saturday.
-T
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