The offensive rebound fell out of vogue in the NBA years ago. The Spurs made a dynasty out of stressing transition defense over hammering the offensive glass — among other things. It’s a copycat league: coaching staffs around the NBA emulate “the Spurs way,” with many teams — including Atlanta and coach Mike Budenholzer — hiring former assistants in San Antonio.
No team had a lower offensive rebounding percentage in 2014-’15 than the Hawks (21.4). Much of that was a stylistic choice: Atlanta was fourth in the NBA in opponent fastbreak points (11.2) and sixth in opponent points in the paint (39.4).
The Hawks are, to put it simply, a subpar rebounding team. They don’t start a traditional center — Paul Millsap and Al Horford are incredible forwards and deserving All-Stars, but the Hawks surrender both size and shot-blocking in order to execute their pace-and-space offense. With the exception of DeMarre Carroll on the wing, the Hawks are a small team, and only the Clippers relied more on their starting lineup this season.
In the aftermath of the Kevin Love injury, the Cleveland Cavaliers persevered, slicing through the soft-cheese East — their knife dulled but still able to cut deeply. Inserted into the Cavaliers’ starting lineup is Tristan Thompson, a basketball player sent to the future via time machine and who was perhaps, until now, more famous for switching shooting hands than for anything he had accomplished in the NBA.
Thompson is essentially an undersized center. Moreover, he doesn’t have a jumper (again: he switched his shooting hand AFTER BEING DRAFTED IN THE LOTTERY) or a dazzling array of post moves.
What Thompson has is a particular set of skills: The 24-year-old is a brute, a fiery blast of rebellion on the glass, and the game’s most notorious offensive rebounder.
We waited for this Eastern Conference Finals for months, and despite the body count on both sides piling up, the Cavaliers cleaned up shop. Cleveland completed its sweep of Atlanta on Tuesday for a number of reasons, not the least of which is LeBron James, who averaged 30.3 points, 11 rebounds and 9.3 assists. A finer detail of this lopsided series was Atlanta’s inability to account for Thompson — the antithesis of the Hawks over the past four games.
https://vine.co/v/ebqpHigFAIT
Cleveland misses Love and his ability to bend defenses with his elite jump shooting — the Cavaliers’ starting lineup outscored opponents by 19.3 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com, during the regular season. Thompson, in that context, is not an ideal replacement. Without Love, Cleveland is left with a clunky five-man outfit — Timofey Mozgov and Thompson provide zero stretch at the forward spots, greatly reducing the drive-and-kick potential for James and Kyrie Irving.
With Irving hampered by a knee injury, the Cavaliers have been playing caveman basketball the past two rounds. James’ usage rate has rocketed up to 38.5 percent from 32.4 during the regular season, and he has admittedly gone a bit iso-crazy as Cleveland adjusts its team framework on the fly.
While Thompson is, on offense, a fraction of the threat that Love is, starting him next to Mozgov gives Cleveland a dependable defensive tandem inside. As Steven Lebron wrote Wednesday, the two big men have shared 196 minutes this postseason and have a 92.1 defensive rating, per NBA.com — outscoring opponents by more than 11 points per 100 possessions when they share the floor. Thompson and Mozgov are grabbing up 8.4 contested rebounds per game, the most of any tandem in the playoffs.
I wrote earlier this month about how Mozgov is the best center LeBron James has ever played with. The combination of Thompson and Mozgov is from another planet compared to his Miami Heat days — let alone playing alongside Love just last month — but James has found a way to unlock these bruisers, transforming these Cavaliers (for the better) in the process.
Thompson, out of necessity, has evolved into a much more confident offensive player these last 10 games. Fourth among rotation players in offensive rebounding during the regular season (14.4 percent), Thompson knows where his bread is buttered. Yet, the wide-bodied power forward had a large advantage against the small frontline of Atlanta, and he put himself in positions to finish at the tin. He was 7-of-12 when guarded primarily by Millsap, per NBA.com, including sneaking underneath the coverage for this electrifying slam in Game 4.
JR Smith lobs to Tristan Thompson for the #AssistOfTheNight! http://t.co/QShx6qOjEY
— NBA (@NBA) May 27, 2015
Thompson shot 64.3 percent from the field on 7 field goal attempts against the Hawks, up from 54.7 percent on 6 FGA during the season. He averaged 11.8 points this series over 39.3 minutes per game — both figures way up after 85 games as the team’s sixth man. After rejecting a 4-year, $52 million offer from Cleveland last year, a head scratcher at the time, Thompson’s ability to seize the moment has likely changed his life forever.
Most repeated phrase in these playoffs might be "Tristan Thompson's made himself some money."
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) May 27, 2015
Cleveland will be the underdog whenever Golden State finishes off Houston, and for good reason. The Warriors, a deeper and healthier team than the Hawks, will test the Cavaliers in ways the Eastern Conference was incapable of doing. Much as Cleveland exploited whatever matchups it could get its hands on against Atlanta, the Warriors are prepared to breathe, stretch, and shake the Cavaliers in a multitude of ways.
Matching up against Draymond Green will be a lot different for Thompson than checking Paul Millsap, who managed just 34.9 percent shooting and one made 3-pointer within Atlanta’s dinged-up offense. For one thing, Green is not merely a power forward, and his playmaking capabilities alone will demand a much different approach from Thompson — in the paint, covering pick-and-rolls, and climbing over screens to deter Steph Curry.
Ultimately the Atlanta series was less a test and more of a coming out party for Thompson. He’s an incredible glass guzzler, a pupil of Dennis Rodman even. However, if Thompson truly wants to earn that monster contract Rich Paul is booking for him this summer, he will need to elevate his play once more, and against a basketball team with a lot fewer question marks than his own.
