Cavs players know they must defend Pistons better from beyond arc

During the regular season, the Pistons made just 34.5 percent of their shots from three-point land. On Sunday, although the Cavaliers pulled out the victory, Detroit was on fire from beyond the arc, especially in the first half. It something that many wine and gold players took exception to during post-game, including guards Matthew Dellavedova and J.R. Smith, forward Tristan Thompson, and point-forward LeBron James.

Delly admitted that although the Cavs defense did a great job at defending the pick-and-roll between Reggie Jackson and Andre Drummond, the team must do a better job of getting the Pistons off the three-point line and if they do in fact get a three-point shot, make sure it’s contested. While defending the pick-and-roll was top priority heading into the game, the Australian also made sure to say that while the team wants to contain the pick-and-roll, the Cavaliers must find a balance on defense.

“We need to do a better job of taking them off the three-point line and contesting a little bit harder…We just need to contest more. They got some good looks – open looks – and we need to do a better job taking that away.”

“Obviously we wanted to limit [the Reggie Jackson-Andre Drummond] pick and roll but we have to give up something else, so it’s just the matter of finding the balance between the two.”

Thompson, who was defending Drummond most of the game, admitted that although the team did a great job at defending the lob following the pick-and-roll between Drummond and Jackson, they must close out and contest shots. They got away with not doing so in the first half of Game 1, but he knows that against a team like Detroit, hedging too far one way or the other can prove costly.

We’re trying to take away the lob and you know try to slow down Drummond. With that being said, there was some open look three-pointers so we have to watch the weak side and get out and close out…We just have to play on a string and contest shots.”

While the Pistons made 10-of-16 shots from beyond the arc in the first half, they made just 5-of-13 in the second half, mainly because the Cavaliers shifted their focus on defense, defended the three-pointer much better, and made sure to close out in the final 24 minutes, something that Smith made sure to mention post-game.

“We really started closing out to the shooters in the second half and made them drive. We just have to be more conscious of closing out.”

James admitted that it was the Cavs fault for allowing Detroit to have so many open shots from beyond the arc, but the wine and gold made halftime adjustments and defended the outside shot much better in the second half.

“They didn’t catch us off-guard. We did it to ourselves. We were a step slow on some of our coverage and they made us pay for it. Effort and attention to detail was much better in second half.”

Whether it were adjustments made at halftime or just the fact that Detroit finally cooled off, their three-point shots weren’t falling as efficiently as they were in the first 24 minutes.

The bad news is that the Cavs allowed the Pistons to shoot that well from three-point land. The good news is that Cleveland still won despite Detroit having one of their best games of the season, something that will be tough to repeat. Whether it’s in the rest of the series or potentially even more games throughout the playoffs, the wine and gold seem to have a solution for defending the three-point bell.