2018 NBA Finals: 5 Things the Cleveland Cavaliers must do to beat the Golden State Warriors

#2 Play physical and smart defense

LeBron James contesting a drive to the rim by Kevin Durant

Being physical with Golden State is something the Cavaliers can achieve, it's how they completed their 3-1 Finals comeback a couple of years back. Now, this team is a lot different from that one but they still have a reliable Playoff core of five to six players that can do that.

It's playing smart defense that is going to difficult for Cleveland because it requires communication. And if their losses in the Playoffs are any indication, forget lack of communication there is almost none when the opposition is forcing them to make decisions on the fly. In their 6 losses this postseason, only one was by single digits and that was a game where they gave up a 17-point lead to lose by 2.

They can take some encouragement from their defense against the Boston Celtics, especially in Game 7, but they should be careful not to be overconfident about it. At the end of the day, they came up against a young team that showed signs of lack of experience (like a young team should) at that stage against a team with more veterans.