The Cavs have rediscovered something with Mobley at the top of the 3-2 zone.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Cleveland Cavaliers have been experimenting with zone defenses all year. Head coach Kenny Atkinson has been doing this so that they can bring it out in the playoffs when they need it. But that was mostly a 2-3 zone. The Cavs won Game 3 due to the 3-2 zone they briefly showed in Game 1, but fully unleashed on Friday.
The 3-2 zone hasn’t been in the works for long. It’s something the Cavs started practicing in the final weeks of the regular season, but didn’t need to actually break out until their series with the Indiana Pacers.
“It’s because of their five-out spacing,” Atkinson said after Game 3. “We’re comfortable with the one we’ve been playing (2-3). But, I had to watch a lot of film. We decided we can’t play our traditional zone against them. We had to match to their five-out stuff.”
The 2-3 zone has been solid throughout the season. Having either, or both, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley on the backside allows the guards up top to be aggressive in defending the ball and passing lanes.
But what if you could have the seven-foot Defensive Player of the Year be the aggressive defender at the top of the zone while still having backside help?
That’s what the 3-2 zone allows with Mobley at the top.
“He’s seven foot with long arms and moves really well,” said Cavaliers forward Dean Wade about Mobley in the zone. “It’s crazy, we put him up there, you can’t see anything on the court after that. It’s awesome.”
Mobley does make it difficult to see anything if you’re the ball handler up top. This is a good example of that.
Tyrese Haliburton doesn’t have an angle or really a path to do anything. Mobley seems to be everywhere at once, cutting off his driving and passing lanes.
There’s also five sets of eyes looking at Haliburon the whole time, which isn’t what you’re going to naturally get in man coverage. So even if you guarded Haliburton with Mobley in a man defense, you wouldn’t get this.
Cutting to the top of the free-throw line is how you’re supposed to beat a zone. Haliburton gets it to Myles Turner, but Mobley’s can shift down to prevent that as well while keeping the backside help intact.
Indiana ended up with a low-percentage, contested layup from Turner that Mobey was all over.
Mobley at the top of the key is almost a cheat code. It works because of who he has behind him.
“They try to get to the middle a lot of times, and my length kind of messes with them,” Mobley said. “I feel like the backside has done a great job back there as well. So it’s two bigs. One on the ball and then one in the back.”
We see how effective that is here. Mobley, which was a theme for most of the night, was able to keep Haliburton in check on this play. He cut off his driving lanes. But unlike the previous clip, the Pacers try to get Turner involved without allowing Mobley to come off and help.
Turner goes to post up Max Strus. Strus holds his ground enough for Allen to come over and provide a good contest.
This is where having the two bigs can feel almost unfair.
The zone could give up corner threes, but good luck trying to shoot over the top of it from above the break with Mobley stationed there.
The corners are where this type of zone is most vulnerable, but the Cavs do a really good job of shifting it from a 3-2 to what is effectively a 2-3.
Here, Haliburton tries to probe towards the wing to get Sam Merrill involved to open up the corner three. He does get the three, but a hard closeout from Strus makes it a contested one.
But as you’ll notice, Mobley immediately dives down to act as center in a traditional 2-3. So even if the offensive player in the corner is able to blow past his guy, there’s still a rim protector there, and Allen has the weakside corner still locked down.
You can try to attack the corners, but you’ll need to execute well to get a good look out of it.
“If you start your offense at the top of the key, it’s gonna be tough for you because [Mobley] kind of, when you get on the sideline, he shuts off half the court,” Wade said.
This is a good example of that.
Bennedict Mathurin starts his drive from the wing, but Mobley comes in from the top of the arc to take away any sightlines to the corner. This leaves Mathurin hoping that someone is still there when, in reality, the offensive player vacated that spot a while ago.
Mathurin can’t see that.
“He’s very intelligent on the defensive end, knowing spots,” said veteran center Tristan Thompson about Mobley. “He’s got a good feel. So with him at the top of the zone, with his size, length, when he shows his arms, he covers so much ground. So it makes it easier for the back line but also guys on the wing as well.”
The Pacers will adjust to this. Rick Carlisle is known for doing that. But this is also a difficult defense to work around with the personnel Cleveland has, specifically their versatile Defensive Player of the Year.
“It’s a tough defense,” Mobley said. “We’ll see how they try to solve it.”