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The fate of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Playoffs are still up in the air. Coach Kenny Atkinson and Co. can no longer go lower than the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference but their three-game win streak indicates that they could still snag the third seed from the New York Knicks. Regardless, the whole team is in preparation mode for the postseason. How exactly are they planning on to surpass expectations? James Harden had a fantastic answer.
Harden introduces ballroom walk-throughs in Cavaliers practice
At first, this concept might be headscratcher for most players and coaches. For Coach Atkinson, this certainly was the case. He and the rest of the Cavaliers roster were more accustomed to having shootarounds as opposed to recreating coverages with tape inside a huge room in a hotel. Eventually, Harden made everyone love the idea of training in the ballroom. He even got real on why this could be their weapon in the NBA Playoffs, via Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
"It’s just preparation, detail, you get ready for the game. Physically you get out and move around, and mentally you have to be prepared. It’s just preparation man, especially going into this run that we are about to go into. I think the focus is making sure we know who we’re playing against and individual guys and what they like to do with their tendencies. Just going to give us an advantage and hopefully we can play better," Harden declared.
This might be new for the players on the current roster. However, former Cavaliers coach Ty Lue has been using this same practice technique when guys like Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, and Kevin Love were still playing in Cleveland. Those squads in the mid-2010s reached insane peaks in the NBA Playoffs and knew their schemes well. So, Harden might be onto something when it comes to helping his teammates enhance their mastery of Coach Atkinson's gameplan.
Notably, the numbers are showing that the Cavaliers have improved since these new forms of practice were introduced. They currently have the ninth-best net rating in the NBA and it is valued at +4.3. A lot of that is carried by their 119.6 offensive rating which is ranked four in the league. With historic success and upticks in their ratings, the Cavaliers may have just unlocked a huge formula for going deep in the NBA Playoffs.
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