Watch Out NBA: The Cleveland Cavaliers Are Coming
By Luke Sicari
Jan 19, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith (5) celebrates a three-point basket in the first quarter against the Chicago Bulls at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Offense
When your team has the likes of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love on your roster, your work on the offense end of the floor is going to be good. There is no if’s or but’s about it, those three are going to make your team a threat to go off on any given night.
The Cavaliers offense over the last week or so though, has simply been out of this world.
In depth stats has opened up a whole new world in breaking down NBA offense’s but sometimes just looking at the scoreboard does the talking and since the loss in Phoenix (which was the last lost the team has taken) on the 14th of January, the Cavs have scored in triple digits in every game. That’s a span of six games people, as Cleveland scored 100 in Phoenix, 109 against the Lakers, 126 the next night against the Clippers, 108 against Chicago, 106 against Utah and a season high (and a Quicken Loans Arena record if you don’t mind) 129 points in a complete dismantling of Charlotte. The last time the Cavs have scored 100 points or more in six consecutive games was during a span that lasted from the 31st of January to the 18th of February, all the way back in 2010, which was James’ final season before he bolted for Miami. While we are talking about Cleveland scoring 100+ points, another nugget to take is that the Cavaliers remain undefeated at home (with a record of 12-0) and have an overall mark of 19-4 when scoring in triple digits. Seems like 100 is the magic number for the Cavaliers.
One of the Cavaliers newest additions, JR Smith, has fit like a glove in this offense. In his first nine games with the club, Smith is averaging 15.3 points a game, while shooting 43.2% from the field and just a tad below 40% from downtown, as he is hitting his three’s at a 39.7% clip. Smith has been able to add something that Dion Waiters couldn’t and that is the ability to space the floor and hit three’s on a consistent basis. When asked about his fit in this offense, Smith had nothing but good things to say, per cavs.com:
"“We have great pace. We have so many guys who can bring the ball up and start the break. Fortunately, we’ve been getting the rebounds and ‘kick-aheads’, and those transition threes are big. Those are the shots I shoot well. It’s spacing the floor. We do a good job of spacing the floor. You have three players that you have to pay attention to. I’ve been saying that for a while now, and you have to help off somebody. It’s going to either me or Timo (Timofey Movgov) and Timo is a capable 15-18 foot shooter as well as getting tip-ins and stuff around the basket, so it leaves me open a lot around the three-point area.”"
Along with the magic number and the addition of Smith, another area where the offense has improved is the simple art of moving the basketball. Earlier in the season, we saw way too much isolation basketball from the Cavaliers and there never really seemed like there was a flow to the offense. That has changed dramatically lately though, as this team is now moving the ball and taking efficient shots. This resulted in Cleveland making franchise history in the Chicago and Utah games, as for the first time ever; they had back-to-back games in which each starter scored 15 points or more.
The Cavaliers are still a talented offensive team when they play isolation basketball but it takes away the effectiveness and beautiful-ness of the offense. It also makes it extremely easy to defend. When the Cavs are moving the ball and hitting their shots like they have during this streak though, it makes them a nightmare for opposing defenses.
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