Cavs Figured Out Something

Cavs vs Knicks Game 1 & 2 Analysis.

The Knicks took game 1 and the focus was on the Cavs rebounding struggles and how the Knicks took advantage of the Cavs on the boards and especially late in the game, but that didn’t stand out to me as much as the Cavs figuring out one key thing in the second half that unlocked their offense. We will break that down plus other observations from the first 2 games from the Cavs & Knicks.

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Knicks Don’t Care About Rolling Mobley

One thing was clear when the Knicks were facing the high ballscreens set for Mitchell & Garland - they were going to take it out of their hands and force Mobley to beat them in the short roll, and he has struggled in that area in both games.

Empty ballscreens seem to be tougher rolls where instead of rolling out into space and hitting a pick-and-pop jumper or 3, he rolls into space and has his back to the basket when he catches it. So by the time he turns and sees the floor his decision making is now sped up.

Here empty the Knicks put two players on the ball with Obi hedging out and Mobley gets the ball with his back to the basket. He then looks to find a cutter baseline but makes a high pass that is easily deflected.

These next two examples are identical clips where Mobley gets it on the short roll and has to finish over Mitchell Robinson who meets him on the catch just outside the charge circle. In both these examples we see Mobley struggling to score off a right hand power move

Early in game 2 the Cavs tried to get Mobley on the roll again and we can see here the struggles with decision-making. Caught in between either throwing a lob pass to Allen or going in for a finish Mobley shoots a half hearted floater off balance and off target.

The first 2 possesions for this in the 2nd quarter was all it took for the Cavs to pivot away from this, as Mobley attempted a straight floater against Robinson on the first attempt.

Next Mobley tried to power through again with no success and just seems to be an action the Cavs will try to avoid as the Knicks were very happy to have the Cavs continue to attack this way.

If you want to see what short roll playmaking and finishing should look like, this edit of Draymond Green is a perfect example of it.

One reason this was a much harder read was the next portion of the breakdown - the Knicks ignoring Okoro and causing spacing issues.

Okoro Hurting

Isaac Okoro in the starting lineup was really hurting the Cavs from not only a shooting standpoint but it gave a place for the Knicks to hide Brunson.