Why the Cavaliers will have to emulate the 2001 Lakers to repeat as champions
Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue had plenty of reason for frustration with his team's defense on Friday night.
The Cavs were lights-out on offense against the Atlanta Hawks, pouring in 25 3-pointers to tie their own all-time record, yet they surrendered 130 points in the process. As a result, Cleveland is now 20th in the NBA in defensive efficiency — which presents a daunting bit of history in the Cavaliers' quest to repeat as champions.
Since the NBA/ABA merger, all but one NBA champion was at least above-average defensively, and every champion in the past 15 years has been in the top 10 (via Basketball-Reference).
The only exception — and the team the Cavaliers likely will have to emulate this season — is arguably the most dominant team ever. The 2000-01 Lakers finished 21st in defensive efficiency and still won the NBA title.
That Lakers team, which was coming off of its first title win of the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant era, famously lost just one game in the entire 2001 postseason, but the regular season was an entirely different story. Shaq was injured and aloof for most of the year, peaking around February when he skipped the All-Star Game. Kobe was in the nascent stages of his offensive coup, taking more and more shots outside the flow of the offense and questioning O'Neal's work ethic. He, too, dealt with injury that year, playing in just 64 games.
By the time the playoffs rolled around, however, everyone got down to business, and the Lakers steamrolled the competition. Only a Herculean effort from Allen Iverson and Dikembe Mutombo prevented Los Angeles from becoming the first team in NBA history to sweep the playoffs.*
*The 1994-95 Houston Rockets almost fall into this category as well. As defending champions, they were 12th out of 27 teams in defensive efficiency that season, then swept the Orlando Magic in the 1995 Finals.
While the Cavs probably won't go "four, four, four, four," there are some parallels between the two teams. Cleveland had to deal with injuries to some of its most important players for much of this season, and there are nights where those who are healthy give less than their full effort. (Of course, we're not questioning LeBron James on that front, as the King is staring at his own daunting bit of history.)
Most importantly, LeBron's squad gets the same benefit of the doubt we gave the Lakers because they're the defending champions. We fully expect this team to flip the switch in April and May and June and go toe-to-toe with the Warriors in the Finals.
As long as they're healthy, the playoffs will be a whole different ball game for the Cavs.
