The Cavs matched the Knicks’ physicality from the outset and limited Jalen Brunson to 20 points on 5-for-17 shooting.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had the league’s No. 1 defense in the regular season and, though they got hurt on the glass, defense wasn’t their biggest issue (they allowed just 101 points on 95 possessions) as they lost Game 1 of their first round series with the New York Knicks.

But defense was definitely the biggest reason they evened the series with a dominant 107-90 victory in Game 2 on Tuesday. Through three quarters, the Knicks had just 60 points on 69 possessions (0.87 per), what would have been their second least efficient game of the season. They put together a 30-point fourth quarter, but the game was well decided by then.

One key to the Cavs’ defensive performance was a more aggressive scheme against Jalen Brunson. Here’s some film and numbers from Game 2…

1. Blitzing Brunson

The Knicks led 13-6 midway through the first quarter, but they scored just once on their next seven possessions, with the one bucket being a fast break off a live-ball turnover. That stretch started with one in which the Cavs blitzed and trapped Brunson on the pick and roll:

After Brunson finally got rid of the ball, the Cavs rotated well behind the trap and Obi Toppin missed a contested runner over Cedi Osman.

2. Work behind the blitz

A few possessions later, Evan Mobley blitzed Brunson on an empty-corner pick and roll, again getting the ball out of his hands. Brunson got rid of it more quickly, but the Cavs again rotated well behind the blitz, with Donovan Mitchell covering Isaiah Hartenstein’s roll and Darius Garland working to get around a screen to deny a swing pass to Quentin Grimes:

Garland and Osman put in more effort to stymie a Toppin-Grimes two-man game, and Garland drew a charge when Grimes tried to force his way to the rim.

According to Second Spectrum tracking, the Cavs were one of the least aggressive defensive teams in the league this season, blitzing a total of just 105 ball-screens over their 82 games. And in Game 1 of this series (with the Knicks setting 42 ball-screens for Brunson), they didn’t blitz once. But in Game 2, they blitzed nine of the 31 ball screens set for the Knicks’ point guard.

Brunson still took 17 shots on Tuesday but made just five, seemingly forcing some quick shots to avoid facing a second defender.

3. The swarm

Brunson was able to drive by the blitz on occasion and having Julius Randle set the ball screen gave him a more capable outlet when the Cavs brought two to the ball. But the Knicks’ offensive success was limited, and the Cavs were swarming, sometimes trapping both Brunson and Randle on the same possession:

With two rim protectors in their starting lineup, the Cavs can afford to be aggressive on the perimeter. They might give up some open shots on the weak side, but the Knicks were a below-average 3-point shooting team in the regular season (35.4%) and they’re not a team that moves the ball particularly well, ranking 25th in passes per 24 minutes of possession (300).

Though both of these team ranked in the top eight offensively in the regular season, neither has scored very efficiently in this series. The Knicks still need to get Brunson on track (maybe by setting fewer screens and letting him play one-on-one) in Game 3 in New York on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

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