LeBron James mastered the art of walking with the Cleveland Cavaliers. During the four years of his second term of service with his hometown team, James essentially spent his regular seasons as a designated hitter. He relaxed defensively to preserve his aging body by offense knowing that when spring came, he could set the record straight and stop again. Despite some unflattering low-light reels, the plan worked. Cleveland reached the NBA Finals four years in a row.
The Lakers would like to emulate those results, and in doing so, they have adopted a form of Cleveland strategy. In terms of effort and effectiveness, James’ defense this season is leaps and bounds from where he was in Cleveland. The numbers confirm it. He ranks seventh in the entire NBA in Defensive Win Shares, 13th in Defensive Box Plus-Minus, and 17th in Defensive Real Plus-Minus. The Lakers have 3.6 points for every 100 possessions better defensively with him on the floor. In an anonymous survey of NBA coaches conducted by The Athletic, he even got four Defense votes. LeBron has been stellar defensively this season, but he has done so within a role designed to preserve most of his energy for offense.
LeBron hardly ever protects the best opposing scorer outside of the occasional trade. More often, it huddles in the corner to a lesser threat, allowing it to serve primarily as a relief advocate. He excelled in that role, particularly as a tire protector.
Opposing players know this and try to avoid challenging James when possible. His mere presence combined with his generally easier tasks has made him a deterrent. Watch Jayson Tatum consider attacking the transition hoop before looking at LeBron on his way and thinking better of it.
This role is essential on the defensive, but it’s not overly demanding, and LeBron has married him to some conservative tactics of his own. Look at how it has largely closed this season.
He hardly ever leaves his feet. It can cover enough ground to put a hand on anyone’s face, but it seldom sells for just a single move. LeBron doesn’t need to exhaust himself every night making outstanding plays. Most of the time, a constant and constant defense is more than enough for these Lakers.
Emphasis on plus, because as the stakes against elite opponents increase, LeBron will inevitably be asked to do more. Proof of that came just before the NBA season closed. In two of their last three games, the Lakers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers over the course of a single weekend. Possibly they kept the NBA’s top two teams at 103 points each, and LeBron took a bigger defensive role in each.
Despite protecting the weakest scorers, James defended reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo for most of the win over the Bucks and Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard for portions of the victory over the Clippers. James received high praise for his defense in both matches. However, the truth is a bit more complicated and suggests that the Lakers should make a fairly significant strategic change.
The Giannis matchup, which occurred as a result of Anthony Davis getting into foul trouble, was surprisingly fruitful. The key to containing the MVP is to keep him away from the basket and effectively contest him once there. James, more voluminous at this later stage in his career, did it effectively. Giannis was unable to master it as a driver.
Nor could it do so in later situations.
Giannis was apparently so disturbed by LeBron’s defense that he leaked into his decision-making. With James on top of him, he just didn’t muster his typical aggressiveness.
For the game, Giannis shot 2 of 8 from the field with LeBron on him, but 8 of 13 against the rest of the Lakers. James is the rare defender who can physically and mentally resist against Antetokounmpo. He is strong enough to dissuade him, enough to compete with him, and smart enough to take him to the right places on the defensive. The Lakers may have imitated the popular wall-building strategy that others have employed against Giannis, but having LeBron guide him to that wall made him noticeably more effective. Even when faced one-on-one, however, he defended himself more than anything against the NBA’s best striker.
That is a key distinction. While James rarely faces the toughest opponent matchup on the defensive, the rare occasions he’s proven successful against power forwards. Weeks earlier, LeBron spent much of the fourth quarter in a matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans stalking Zion Williamson (with Davis out due to injury).
The same general principles apply. James did an excellent job of keeping Zion out of the basket and settling for jumpers, but when he attacked, LeBron didn’t give up and played great defense in the basket. The Lakers are so big that LeBron often doesn’t need to defend power forwards, but when he has, he has shown that his physique is one of his best defensive traits.
It has not had the same success in clashes based more on delicacy. The Clippers game was not so kind to LeBron. To put it bluntly, Kawhi Leonard roasted it. James didn’t spend the entire game with Leonard, but what became clear in the minutes he did was that Kawhi is too fast for LeBron at this stage in his career.
When the entirety of the Laker edge protection turned out to be too strong, Leonard had no trouble negotiating the small spaces his reflective lead on James gave him in the middle of the floor to soar into clean mid-range looks.
This does not mean that James was defensively bad throughout the game. He contributed a lot as an assistant, changed effectively, and generally played a positive role in the overall effort of his team. But one on one against Kawhi, he was outplayed. Leonard shot 5 of 6 from the field with LeBron on him in that game.
Fighting Kawhi is nothing to be ashamed of. No defense has solved Leonard’s puzzle, and as he has become a strong passer, teams can no longer even duplicate it safely. For the year, Kawhi is averaging 30.7 points on 53.6 percent shooting against the Lakers. This is not exclusively a LeBron problem, but the idea that there could be a LeBron solution in the playoffs now seems optimistic. Winning a championship will require beating him and perhaps a facsimile or two at some point, and the film suggests that LeBron, at the age of 35, is no longer suitable for that specific task. If you fought Kawhi once, in a regular season game, how would you be playing extra minutes in seven consecutive playoff games?
There is no simple answer to Kawhi’s problem, but there is an adjustment that will help against everyone else. We know that LeBron’s best offensive position is power forward. The concept is simple: sliding him and Davis around one place increases space by replacing a shooter in the center. If the evidence now points to LeBron also being a better defender in the power advance, then logic dictates that it should be, if not his full-time postseason position, then at least his top position.
There were markers pointing in that direction anyway. Most contenders downsize in the playoffs for both space and athletic purposes. Losing Avery Bradley as an attack point defender would make it difficult for the Lakers to exploit their size defensively anyway. Dwight Howard has not confirmed whether or not he will play at Disney, and it is unknown what impact JaVale McGee’s asthma will have on his own availability. The Lakers have outscored opponents with a blister of 15.8 points per 100 possessions with James at the forefront of power, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Strategically, this simplifies the confrontations against the power forwards that James might need to defend against one on one, like Giannis and Zion, but in more typical confrontations, it allows him to remain in his offside role. Bradley’s absence potentially accentuates him. Without him to chase ball handlers across the screens, the Lakers would be better served by switching more defensively, especially with bigger guards like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Alex Caruso ideally absorbing their minutes.
Such a move would be welcomed by Leonard. Isolation scorers are kryptonite for changing heavy schemes, but an elite team defender like James mitigates the damage. While the change may empower Leonard, it makes life more difficult for the rest of his team. This was, in a nutshell, the strategy the Houston Rockets used twice to nearly topple the Golden State Warriors: let Kevin Durant shoot a group of typically inefficient jumpers and make everyone else feel miserable. If Kawhi scores 50 against a series of bad matches? So more power to him, he deserves to win.
The Lakers will play a series of looks against Kawhi. They have done so for three regular season games and have yet to find a favorable look. That included the alleged nuclear option of letting LeBron try to monitor him one-on-one, and even that failed. But his success throughout the season, and against Giannis, makes it clear that he’s better anyway in a different role. James’ already impressive defense will likely improve further in the playoffs, but maximizing it will require the wisest possible use of his talents.
