10 keys to winning a title

Help Defense

There are only a handful of guys that can guard Kyrie Irving. There are even less players that can guard LeBron James. It’s very hard to slow those guys down.

The Boston Celtics have the player who’s probably best equipped to defend Irving. Avery Bradley is a great defender who can match up with the Cavs’ point guard. Irving averaged 26 points per game on 62 percent shooting and 50 percent from the three-point line.

With a great defender in Paul George on him, James averaged 33 points and 9 assists. He shot 54 percent from the field. He also knocked down 45 percent of his three-pointers.

The problem with those teams is that they don’t have a lot of looks to offer the Cavs’ stars. Playing great defense doesn’t necessarily mean forcing a turnover every single time. It’s also a team effort.

Sometimes playing great defense means forcing your man to go in a certain direction to help defense. Unfortunately for Bradley, he had no one to help him. There was no one behind him to add more pressure onto Irving.

The Golden State Warriors need to help and help a lot. While Klay Thompson is a great defender, he can’t completely contain Irving. While Andre Iguodala won a Finals MVP for guarding James, he can’t handle him on his own.

Draymond Green and Kevin Durant need to be on top of their game. Their rotations need to be quick and sharp. The key to stopping James and Irving isn’t on the perimeter; it’s in the second line of defense that makes or breaks you.

James and Irving are going to score. It’s what they do. But in order to keep games close, the help defense has to be there. They can’t let one player go one-on-one with anyone. That’s not how Golden State will win.

They need to throw multiple bodies at Cleveland’s scorers. The Warriors have an incredible defense and they need to be better than they’ve ever been to win. Help defense is key.