clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

David Blatt on Cavs defense: "I thought we were locked in on almost every play"

The Cavs defense was the story on Sunday night

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

The Golden State Warriors were a team that won 67 games, and they did it on the strength of an amazing defense, and an incredibly good offense. There are very few weaknesses to exploit. The Cleveland Cavaliers, missing both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, have and will struggle to score on a defense anchored by Andrew Bogut, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and more.

But their defense, early on in the series, has been very good. Some of it is random. Stephen Curry isn't going to shoot 5-23 very often, regardless of how good the defense is. But he did in Game 2, and the Cavs capitalized by stealing homecourt advantage from the Warriors.

The Cavs should feel very good about the way they defended. Curry was swarmed all game not just by Matthew Dellavedova, but also by Iman Shumpert and Tristan Thompson and LeBron James. This was a total team effort, and coach David Blatt recognized it as such:

"Our guys are really, really, really locked in and defending and making an effort and making an effort on multiple efforts on every single play. And that is the only way to play against the Warriors, because they're so potent offensively and they can put up points so quickly and in a multitude of ways that you have no choice but to be aware or get beat. And I thought we were aware, and I thought we were locked in on almost every play."

The Cavs aren't guaranteed of anything, but it does look like we have a series on our hands.