Since he arrived in the league last season, Isaac Okoro has made his mark in Cleveland thanks to his defense and his athletic qualities. Nevertheless, in mid-December, he had for once shown himself offensively.
In four matches, the full-back/winger averaged 18.5 points at 70% shooting success. He had gained confidence and confirmed his recent progress at 3-pts, after a disastrous start to the season in this area (11% success behind the arc in the first 10 matches).
Unfortunately for him, it all came to a halt when Covid-19 and an elbow injury slowed him down. For the third time this season, the Cavaliers winger had to return to the courts after several missed matches in a row. To revive himself, he relied on his main quality: defense.
“He’s been doing this for two years”, notes Darius Garland for the Plain Dealer. “We saw it contain very good players. He has confidence in himself, he knows he can stop anyone, any night. “
He started by suffocating Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, off in the “money time”. Then he tackled Kyrie Irving. The Nets point guard only scored 10 of his 27 points against Isaac Okoro and in the last quarter, he couldn’t find his way to the circle when the Cleveland player was on him…
“One of the best defenders in the league in one-on-one”
It was even he who stole the last ball, after a failed pass from James Harden, to conclude the dunk and validate the victory for Cleveland. After the meeting, a sign of respect, the 2016 champion went to greet his opponent.
“In this league, it’s about one-on-one situations”, analyzes JB Bickerstaff. “Can you beat your direct opponent? Isaac makes things difficult for them. Now interiors don’t have to come in to help and having such strong players to stay ahead of their opponent is invaluable. He is, I think, one of the best defenders in the league in one-on-one. He gives no angle and to score against him, you have to do great things. “
The Cavaliers, a team in form at the moment with five wins in a row, have the third most effective defense in the league this season, behind the Warriors and the Suns, and obviously, an Isaac Okoro at this level is no stranger to it. His direct opponent only shoots at 40% success and 28% at 3-pts.
“There are three interiors over 2m10 in the racket and Isaac on the outside, and against him, it’s hard to get out of it”, recounts Jarrett Allen, who thinks of himself, Lauri Markkanen and Evan Mobley when he mentions this trio of greats. “He’s going to make you work to get a layup or a shot. He’s not as shy as he used to be. A rookie is always looking for solutions to find his place, to know what he can or cannot get. Now he plays hard on every possession and is no longer afraid to take a foul. “
| isaac okoro | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2020-21 | KEY | 67 | 32 | 42.0 | 29.0 | 72.6 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 1.9 | 2.8 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 9.6 |
| 2021-22 | KEY | 29 | 28 | 44.4 | 30.1 | 71.6 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 3.4 | 1.8 | 2.5 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 8.9 |
| Total | 96 | 31 | 42.7 | 29.3 | 72.3 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 3.2 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 9.4 | |
