The Cleveland Cavaliers have found a way to get an advantage with LeBron James through the switching of the Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics have been a truly elite defense in the playoffs. The injuries have killed them, but Brad Stevens has found a way to turn every single remaining player into some sort of asset on defense, and that has allowed them to surprise a lot of people in the playoffs.
The Celtics always play defense as a unit, and even if they have their matchups, everyone is expected to play multiple different roles. The Celtics have the best defenisve communication in the league, and everything is about versatility.
The Celtics have the kind of players that are always versatile, and the key to their success is having the communication to make sure everyone knows where they need to be at any given moment, and none of those positions being exploitable.
The Celtics have wings who can guard four position, bigs who can guard four positions and guards who can cover three or four positions. All of these players are prepared to take on any assignment on the court, and make sure the opponent does not have an advantage to exploit.
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The Celtics want to be able to switch any player in any situation, without being worried about the opponent having any particular matchup to exploit, while leaving absolutely no space for anyone on the court.
In games one and two, the Celtics terrorized the Cleveland Cavaliers with their switching. Marcus Morris led the way, but everyone helped disrupt games in his terrible game one performance. Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Semi Ojeleye, Aron Baynes and Marcus Smart can all help try to make things difficult on James, and the ability to switch with all these players is what killed everything around James.
In game two, James was able to get things going no matter who was on him, but the Celtics were still happy with the defense. They made things incredibly difficult on James, and if he is hitting those kind of shots the Celtics will live with it.
From that, they were able to completely shut down everything around him. James was taking difficult shots no matter who was on defending him, because they were all capable, and then they have four other defenders, who could stick with the likes of George Hill, J.R Smith, Kyle Korver, and Kevin Love.
The Celtics were not concerned about any individual matchups in game one and two, because they switched any which way they wanted to. The Cavaliers were not able to find a distinct advantage, because Boston’s defense kept them one step ahead of whatever the Cavaliers wanted to do.
In the last two games, however, the Cavaliers have found one glaring holes in their switching defense, Terry Rozier. If the Celtics want to stop switching all the time, then they have to transform their entire defense.
Unfortunately, if James continues to get opportunities with Rozier guarding him, the Celtics may not be able to win this with defense. Rozier is the one player on the Celtics who cannot disrupt James in any way, because the size and strength difference is way too much to overcome.
The Celtics do not want to stop switching, so they have started sending some help when Rozier is on James. The problem is that James is the best player in the league at breaking double teams, and that has led to wide open shots and easy layups.
The Cavaliers are able to exploit the switching to isolate Rozier on James, and then the rest of the defense is thinking about the potential help they may need to bring on James. As a result, they are not closing out as hard, and have let the rest of the players get more comfortable than they were in the first two games.
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The Celtics are not going to stop switching, because it has lead to so much defensive success. That being said, James has found a way to get around what shut them down in the first two games, and now it is the Celtics’ turn to make the adjustment that will give their defense the advantage it needs to win game five at home.