The most overlooked part of the Cavs game was

[Wurider05]

the team defense. I was sitting there in awe at how we shut them down defensively. We got hot offensively but our defense was excellent.

[Admin]

Team defense was good but for me it was the intricate plays and the passing and Al absolutely inserting himself into Love's pride like he had no shot at stopping him from scoring. But man watching this team run plays where you've got 2 separate groups on Hawks players basically running mini plays on each side of the court is just a beautiful thing to watch.

[NBASupes]

Our defense is extremely fundamentally sound. Like to a T. It's like watching the Spurs but without the rim protector and size but with more speed and hands everywhere to get steals. 

[benhillboy]

Our defense is extremely fundamentally sound. Like to a T. It's like watching the Spurs but without the rim protector and size but with more speed and hands everywhere to get steals.

Couldn't have said it better. The Spurs have a little bit better feeling for scouting though, of course due to having many more reps in the system.

We probably force more late-clock situations than they do becuase we close so hard and fast and extend the clock (where we've been burned too much in the last seconds) whereas the Spurs are more likely to surrender an open but low percentage shot with more rebounding position. Prime example is closing out hard on Taj Gibson from 17 feet, allowing a pump, drive, and at least a point every time (we allowed him to dive unabated on PNR too much too). Pop would give him that shot every time and live with the results (like he painfully did in Game 7 versus LeBron) but Bud is still building habits so I'm totally good with going hard all the time. When we do complete 24 second violations, it kills the other teams' momentum completely becuase they know we have a dual option to score coming back the other way, avalanche started.

Kyle, Al, Baze, Thabo, and Junk can all spark us on that side, but zee German's influence and infection is the biggest difference. You can't help but to grind behind him after he's glided through two backcourt screens and still applying pressure.

Edited December 19, 2014 by benhillboy

[CrazyEye]

I beleve there is also a difference betwen an po series and a RS game, in terms oft preparations. I am not sure if the player know all weak spots of there matchup in a RS game, and believe it is smarter to go hard at them since it is usuallly the right decision instead oft giving them Josh Smiths threes he like to take but wouldnt hit. During a po series u could work on those details .

[DrReality]

36 assists worn down their defense. Love that

[benhillboy]

I love seeing the looks on former Hawks faces as we handle them. Larry was on the bench wondering what could've been if he we're a better coach and sans Josh and Sund. Joe and Josh down, time to bring the pain to Doc and Woody's medicore defense soon.

Edited December 20, 2014 by benhillboy