Getting Defensive
Joe Gabriele
Cavs.com Beat Writer
Trying to make sense of an NBA season statistically is overwhelming. You can get buried under the numbers.
But one statistic over the past two years stands out – that in the 50 games that they’ve scored 100 or more points over the past two years they’re 48-2.
Even those with arithmophobia can figure out that A. winning 96 percent of your games is pretty good, and B. when the Cavaliers have a decent offensive performance, their defense will pull them through.
A few weeks ago, cavs.com talked with the Wine and Gold’s new “Offensive Coordinator” – Mike Malone – and he spoke of the challenges, working new faces into the system – including the most dominant big man of his generation.
Today, we take a look at Cleveland’s new “Defensive Coordinator” – Melvin Hunt – the man in charge of Coach Mike Brown’s “baby”: the defensive side of the floor.
“There’s some pressure,” Hunt laughed. “It’s like taking a class in college and your professor’s the one who wrote the book. (The defense) is Mike Brown’s baby. This is a system he’s built and perfected over the years. And he believes in it.”
Cleveland’s new D-Coordinator quickly added: “Fortunately, I’ve been an apprentice of his for four years, and I’m a believer, too.”
The Cavaliers have been built on defense since Brown became the 17th head coach in franchise history. And it’s easy to be a believer in that system. Coach Brown and his staff’s record since arriving in 2005 is 224-122.
Last year, the Wine and Gold was again one of the league’s top defensive teams – the only squad in the NBA to hold teams under 92 points per game, ranking 2nd in field goal percentage and allowing opponents to shoot just 43 percent from the field. They allowed only 19 clubs to notch triple figures and held 36 teams under 90 points.
This season, the new-look Cavaliers are beginning to rediscover their defensive roots. In separate fourth-quarter outings this year, Cleveland held Dallas to 16 points, Indy to 13 and Philadelphia to just 10. This past Wednesday, the Cavaliers got defensive on the front end, clamping down on the high-octane Suns – holding Steve Nash and Co. to just 29 points in the first half.
“We always stress our fourth-quarter defense, but we know if we want to be a championship-caliber team we’ve got to get that to as close to 48 minutes as possible,” said the former Baylor standout. “We’ve got some tough-minded guys who don’t want to lose, and they’ll grit it out. We know coming out of the gate, we like to hit in the mouth first. We don’t want to be counter-punchers. We don’t want to trade baskets. It’s who we are and who we want to be.”
In this past offseason, Mike Brown entrusted his defense to his trusted assistant, who’s readily accepted the challenge.
“He wasn’t making it a burden – like ‘Here’s the defense; make it work,’” quipped Hunt. “We knew were going to do some different things on defense this year, so he just put me on task to look at some defensive schemes. And that continued all summer.”
The new defensive assignment was just another offseason demand for the busy Hunt, who’s traveled to Asia, Lithuania and South Africa twice to participate in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program.
And in between globe-trotting and reshaping a championship-caliber defense, the soon-to-be-40-year-old Hunt and his wife, Carmen, have two children: daughter, Braya and son, Miles – Melvin’s “Mini-Me” who can often be found dribbling a ball around the court during pregame shootaround.
As the Cavaliers defense continues to redefine itself, Hunt – a natural coach and teacher who has a master's degree in education – knows it’s bound to succeed.
“I believe in all the concepts,” he asserted. “And the new things we’re putting in, that’s becoming part of us, too. And as it succeeds, we’re starting to believe in that. It’s easy to do it when you believe in it.
“In football, some of those teams’ defensive coordinators, the head coach won’t let them do their thing. And they don’t really believe in it. It’s just “this guy’s” deal – you’ve got one foot in and one foot out. My feet are planted. Mike Malone’s feet are planted. We believe in our system.”
With rock-solid defensive performances against two of the West’s best and more fourth-quarter performances like those against the Pacers and Sixers, the Cavaliers are quickly rising back to the top of the NBA’s elite stoppers.
“We have guys who can fit our DNA,” concluded Hunt. “We’ve always talked about being a defensive-minded team, but we haven’t always done it with defensive-minded players. The system kind of insulated and protected them. Now we have guys that have some built-in defensive tools, as far as their length and ability to fly around.”
That thought put a big smile on Melvin Hunt’s mug.
“Defensively, we can put five guys on the floor that can be pretty nasty.”
