The Cleveland Cavaliers had their way with the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night. Cleveland dominated throughout thanks to contributions from Kevin Love and J.R. Smith. They’re now one step closer to locking up the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.
Here’s what we learned.
1. The Cavs are unbeatable when they’re on fire from deep.
Cleveland is nearly unstoppable when they’re hitting their three’s like they were on Tuesday night. They were 18 for 36 (50 percent) from behind the arc as a team on Wednesday.
You really do have to pick your poison with the Cavs when they’re shooting as well as they have been recently. You have to try to limit LeBron James by crowding the paint and leaving the Cavs three-point weapons open, or you have to stay out on the shooters and allow James to have his way inside. There’s no right answer to that.
2. J.R. Smith has the most three’s in a single season for the Cavs.
Smith has had an outstanding shooting season which culminates in him becoming the franchise record holder for most three’s made during a single season.
What’s more important is how good Smith has been playing recently. Just like LeBron and the rest of the Cavs, he appears to be peaking at the right time. He followed up his monster game on Sunday with another strong performance. Smith finished with a team leading 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting from behind the arc.
We saw in the playoffs last year just how important Smith can be. He played a vital role in securing series wins against the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks. We also saw just how much it hurts the team when he’s off in the Finals. Hopefully we see the good J.R. like we’ve seen the last few games in the playoffs.
3. The Cavaliers can hold onto a big lead.
Cleveland has struggled holding onto big leads the past few games. They were able to get out to huge leads against the Houston Rockets, Toronto Raptors, and Charlotte Hornets last week, but they weren’t able to hold onto it for the whole game.
Fortunately that wasn’t the case Tuesday night. Cleveland started off hot and they never gave Milwaukee hope for a comeback. The Bucks aren’t a great team, but it is always refreshing to see the Cavs keep a dominating lead throughout the entire game.
4. Maybe the Cavs are ready for the playoffs.
There has been a lot of drama swirling around this team for the last month and a half, but that appears to all be over now. LeBron recently said that the Cavs are finally ready for the playoffs, and he appears to be right.
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After a regular season that didn’t live up to the lofty standards set by the Warriors and Spurs, the Cavs appear to be peaking at the right time. They’ve looked complacent throughout much of the season and lost many games to teams with inferior talent. However, Cleveland appears to have turned the corner. When this team is playing like this, there are as good as any team in the Association.
The Cavs will be back in action on Wednesday night when they travel to Indiana to take on the Pacers.