Breaking down the Cleveland Cavaliers nine-game win streak

PHILADELPHIA,PA – NOVEMBER 27: LeBron James

The Cleveland Cavaliers have now won 9 straight games and seem to be getting into a groove. It’s easy to say that the Cavs are just simply playing good, however it’s more than that. Let’s break it down.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are a totally different team throughout their 9 game win streak than what they were at the beginning of the season. At 5-7 the Cavaliers had the NBA’s worst defensive rating and it wasn’t even close. The effort was nonexistent, there was no communication, chemistry was a problem, etc. The Cavs were almost painful to watch during that stretch. However, since then the Cavs have totally “flipped the switch”, and it’s something beautiful.

Throughout Cleveland’s NBA-leading nine-game win streak, they have been among the best in the league in many categories. First, offense.

Offensively, the Cavaliers have been nothing short of incredible. These past nine games, Cleveland has the fourth best offensive rating in the league at 110.9. In addition, the offense is putting up around 111.5 points per game. The offense’s efficiency has been impressive as well.

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The Cavs are shooting the ball very efficiently both from the field and from three-point range. Throughout the past ten games, the Cavaliers are shooting 47.4% from the field, which ranks 7th in the NBA. From three, Cleveland ranks 2nd in attempts, shooting exactly 35.0 threes a night, making about 13.5 of them, which results in a top-ten league-wide percentage of 38.0%. While Cleveland ranks out of the Top 10 in getting to the free throw line, they’re shooting the ball at a NBA’s 7th best 80.2%.

Yes, the Cavaliers offense is playing very good as of late, however, the real improvement has been on the defensive end. I repeat, the Cleveland Cavaliers are actually playing elite defense.

All jokes aside, the Cavaliers defense has improved tremendously. Throughout their unbeaten streak, the Cavs’ defense has only let up an average of 101 points per game. Their defensive rating ranks 4th in the league at 100.5. In addition, Cleveland ranks 3rd in the league in defensive rebounds, grabbing 37.3 per game. Cleveland is also minimizing points off turnovers at 15.2 per game (8th best), as well as excelling in defending fast breaks, letting up just 7.4 fast break points per game (3rd best).

Stats aside, it is apparent that the communication has greatly improved, along with the rotations, effort, and the focus that’s involved on the defensive end for the Cavs.

Finally, the bench play.

The Cavaliers bench this season has been a sight for sore eyes compared to some of the previous years. Throughout the past 10 games, the Cavaliers bench is scoring 41.3 points per game, which ranks 5th best in the NBA. Cleveland’s bench also ranks 12th in rebounds and Top 15 in assists. To top it all off, the efficiency of the bench throughout this stretch has been superb. Among all benches, the Cavaliers bench ranks 6th both in field goal percentage (46.7%) and three-point percentage (40.0%). The aggressive play of the bench allows the second unit to go to the free throw line 8.4 times a night (7th best), all while converting 79.8% of their free throws (3rd best).

All in all, the win streak has been great for the Cavaliers. The chemistry is improving, the defense is coming along, and the bench is consistently playing at a high level. What’s even more impressive is who the Cavs are streaking with (or without). Cleveland is still without Derrick Rose, Tristan Thompson, and Isaiah Thomas.

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The good news is, each of those players are set to return in the coming weeks. However, this still causes for a tribute for those filling in for the injured players: Jose Calderon, Iman Shumpert, and Channing Frye; and also a look ahead at how good the Cavs can be once at full strength.