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The Cleveland Cavaliers 3PT Shooting is Historically Great

By Luke Goodman

Nov 11, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) shoots the ball over Washington Wizards guard Marcus Thornton (15) in the first quarter at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 11, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) shoots the ball over Washington Wizards guard Marcus Thornton (15) in the first quarter at Verizon Center. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Cleveland Cavaliers are having a historic season from behind the arc; and it is due to the excellent play of their big three.

Since the emergence of Steph Curry and his super-team the Golden State Warriors, the NBA has been shifting towards a different style of play especially the Cleveland Cavaliers. Three-point shots have become more and more frequent, and players are hitting them at a higher rate.

This season, the league continues to follow that trend. In fact, it’s currently on pace to have the most three-pointers attempted by a sizable margin. And after all, why not? They are worth an extra point, right?

The Cleveland Cavaliers are Having an All-Time Great Season from Deep

The Houston Rockets are getting a lot of well-deserved attention for having one of the best seasons from long-range of all time thus far. Houston has been shooting an unprecedented 39 threes a game and are hitting at a 38% clip. They deserve all the attention they can get for that success.

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However, the Cavaliers have had an all-time great season from deep as well. Their numbers might not be as noticeable as Houston, but they deserve some recognition for the way they’re shooting the ball.

Cleveland is currently shooting 39.7 percent from deep. This number is second in the league to the Spurs so it’s easy to be dismissed. However, it’s still a mark that has only been accomplished 16 times in league history. If the Cavs can keep up this kind of shooting they’ll be cemented as an all-time great shooting team on this stat alone.

But even more impressively, Cleveland is averaging the second highest number of attempts per game of all time. At 33.4 attempts per game the only team to ever average more attempts is this year’s Rockets.

This brings the Cavaliers to an astounding 13.3 threes made per game, good for second highest in NBA history. Again, only the current Rockets have a higher number.

Everyone’s Chipping in for High Volume and High Percentages

The season is only a little over a quarter of the way done, but if the Cavs continue at this pace they’ll undoubtedly be looked upon as one of the best shooting teams ever. A big part of this success is due to volume shooter hitting career highs in this department.

The Cavs have four players hitting above 40% from deep on more than 90 attempts with Iman Shumpert, Channing Frye, and Kyrie Irving all shooting their career high percentage. Kevin Love is just a percentage point away from his career high as well.

Low volume shooters like James Jones are also shooting high percentages with 63.6%. Lebron is chipping in by improving his threes by 7 points from last year up to 37%.

Must Read: 7 Possible Trade Targets for the Cavaliers

Houston has been in the limelight of long-range shooting all year, and they’ve been superb, but in a balance of volume and efficiency the Cavs aren’t far behind. There’s a lot of basketball left to be played this season, but the Cavaliers are on pace to make history.