Cavs-Spurs Game 1: San Antonio Stifles LeBron James

San Antonio's 85-76 victory in Game One of the NBA Finals showed exactly where the Cavs and Spurs stand on pro basketball's ladder of success. And unfortunately for Cavs fans, their team still has a few rungs to climb.

The Spurs sagged off LeBron James (4-16, 14 PTS) and dared him to take jump shots. When LeBron tried to bull his way into the lane, multiple defenders were there to challenge him.

Though LeBron did a good job of passing out after drawing crowds, his teammates (Sasha Pavlovic, Larry Hughes) did a poor job of making their shots.

Mike Brown ran iso's or high screen/rolls almost exclusively for LeBron and they were defended perfectly by the Spurs.

With rotating help, San Antonio defenders would go under the Cavs' screens. A weak-side Spur would pick up the flashing screener, and the rotations would arrive in time to contest every jump shot.

Brilliant defense against a simplistic offense.

Of LeBron's three baskets off screen/rolls, one came when his defender was tripped, and two were relatively meaningless fourth quarter triples. He also had only four assists (low for him) and committed six turnovers.

Only twice did LeBron catch passes in motion—on back-to-back possessions when Brown had him curl off screens. The first play produced a layup against the flat-footed Spurs. The second was defused when Bruce Bowen cheated the screen and Robert Horry swarmed LeBron.

Of LeBron's supporting cast, only Drew Gooden, Pavlovic (for a half), Daniel Gibson (mostly in garbage time), and Anderson Varejao (when not defended by Duncan) were able to do anything offensively.

Meanwhile, Gregg Popovich's offensive game plan was as sound as his defensive scheme. To exploit Hughes' foot injury and Zydrunas Ilgauskas lack of foot speed, the Spurs ran a number of Duncan/Tony Parker screen/rolls to start the game.

The result: Parker was able to blow by Hughes for easy layups or thread passes to Duncan for easy slams. It helped that Gooden's idea of a defensive rotation was rotating his head to watch Duncan put the ball in the basket.

In response, Brown made an adjustment that could impact the remainder of the series: He switched LeBron onto Parker. LeBron's ability to stay with Parker on the drive while having the strength to muscle him away from the hoop greatly tempered Parker s effectiveness.

LeBron's progress as a defender—his defense was embarrassing as recently as February—is a testament to the young man s work ethic and desire

Gooden, on the other hand, was unable to even so much as slow Duncan down. Varejao did a decent job in the first half, but Duncan adjusted to his techniques as the game wore on. Ilgauskas wasn't terrible either—though he was consistently abused on screen/rolls.

Expect to see a lot more Duncan double-teams later in the series.

In the second quarter, with Parker and Duncan either resting or adjusting to defensive looks, the San Antonio offense disappeared. The reason: The Spurs weren't making their jump shots. Only after Bowen hit two corner trifectas and Manu Ginobli began to bury open looks did the Spurs run away with the game. 

Other notes from Game One:

- Duncan, Francisco Elson, and Fabricio Oberto pulled down a combined 13 offensive rebounds—including two off missed free throws.

- Gibson is no fluke. On offense, he hit quick-trigger threes, pull-up J's, and nifty layups. He also had four assists (against no turnovers) and recorded four steals. Unfortunately, most of his points came when the game was well decided.

- As gutty as Hughes is, his foot injury has left him with no quickness to stop Parker and no ability to create his own offense.

- Nobody took notice, but Horry had six assists and played outstanding technique defense. It isn't a coincidence he's going after his seventh ring.

- Michael Finley was a dud. He hit his trademark drive-and-pull-left to start the game, but went 0-6 after that. Will he be better the rest of the series?

- Duncan and LeBron converged near the hoop just once—and it ended up with Duncan blocking a short jumper. On that play, and over the entire game, Duncan performed like the best basketball player on the planet...while LeBron was a mere mortal.

 

Going forward, expect Brown to expand his offense beyond high screens and iso's for LeBron and to get Gibson involved earlier in games. Defensively, don't be surprised to see more of a) LeBron on Parker and b) Ilgauskas on Duncan. The Cavs will also look to improve their baseline rotations on screen/rolls.

 

It's worth noting that the Cavs played ugly basketball against New Jersey because of their cakewalk against Washington and were unprepared against Detroit because they weren't tested by the Wizards and Nets. It shouldn't be surprising, then, that the Cavs weren't ready for the Spurs in Game One.

 

Now, Cleveland has to adjust. They know what's coming, and the onus is on them to be up for Game Two.

 

And they'd better be because the Spurs definitely won't beat themselves.