Cleveland Cavaliers: The 12-second shot clock is paying off for Tyronn Lue

As preached by head coach Tyronn Lue, the Cleveland Cavaliers are getting out and running more this year, and it’s been crucial for their success in the preseason so far.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have started as well as anyone could have asked for thus far. They’ve beaten the Boston Celtics in their two preseason games, most recently by a score of 113-102. In both games, they’ve essentially led the whole way, and a major factor has been their pace.

Cleveland head coach Tyronn Lue has stressed the importance of playing fast throughout training camp, and I would assume well before that. It’s not that the Cavs are just getting fastbreak points all the time, as they’ve averaged just 11.5 points on the break thus far, per NBA.com.

That would have placed them in the middle of the pack in fastbreak points last season, tying with the Philadelphia 76ers at 15th in the league.

Cleveland has had more ball movement in the halfcourt, though. That’s because of Lue’s 12-second shot clock in practice (which was a borrowed coaching tactic from Lue’s former coach Doug Collins), per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.

George Hill expounded on that and how it will affect Cleveland’s offense this year, per Fedor.

"“We’ve got a 12-second shot clock, which is tough,” George Hill said Saturday. “(Lue) does it to get the pace up, to get the ball up the floor, not a lot of dribbling. You’ve got to use the pass instead of dribble so we are just working on trying to enhance our pace. But at the same time get good shots.”"

The Cavaliers have been moving it constantly early in the clock, and that’s started right after they’ve gotten rebounds. More man and ball movement is essential for Cleveland this year, as they won’t be as effective in isolation. In order for the Cavs to get their three-point shots, they’ll need to work early in the shot clock to get their snipers open.

Cedi Osman, Hill, Collin Sexton, Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr. are going to be spearheading the Cavs movement to get shots up earlier, and in turn, getting more possessions for Cleveland.

Hill described Cleveland’s approach for their offense to Fedor, and it’s what the Cavs will live or die by in 2018-19.

"“We don’t want to be a team that’s only getting 60 to 70 shots per game if we can get 90 shots a game,” Hill said. “Gives us more opportunity to score. But also picks up the pace and hopefully those teams you’re playing against doesn’t train that way and you can tire them out. In the fourth quarter their legs are gone. We’re going to try to figure it out and if doesn’t work then I’m sure we are going to make adjustments.”"

Now the Cavs probably aren’t going to have more assists this season from this, but with them playing more young pieces, it should bode well. David Nwaba, Sam Dekker and Tristan Thompson are players than can benefit in the open floor more, as they are athletic bench guys and aren’t going to make a lot of plays off the dribble in settled offense.

Cleveland has averaged just 14.0 assists per game, which is the lowest amount thus far among NBA teams in preseason play, per NBA.com. The plus side, though, is the Cavaliers are getting more productive man movement earlier in the shot clock to get good shots.

This pass by Jordan Clarkson to Ante Zizic is just what the Cavs are looking for, per Fox Sports Ohio.

Osman, Sexton and Clarkson, especially, have taken advantage of that new philosophy from Lue.

With the regular rotation players in particular, Cleveland is capitalizing when they’ve had favorable matchups with their perimeter players, and with the bigs such as Nance and Love taking the ball down right the floor after rebounds, it allows Cleveland to conserve time in the halfcourt.

Over time, that can make opposing defenses gassed later in games, and then isolations can become more efficient. Free throw chances and open three-point shots from players such as Rodney Hood, J.R. Smith, Love and Kyle Korver can accumulate, too.

This offensive adjustment from Lue was necessary for the Cavs this season. They won’t be as efficient, so getting as many chances as possible is a common sense alternative. In addition, the Cavs have gotten 34.5 free throw attempts per game, which is currently 8th in the league, and that won’t be sustainable, but their movement has been a key factor.

Playing against a tired opponent can also cause lapses in judgment and turnovers as well, which Cleveland could convert into easier points going the other way.

This play and look by Osman is what Lue is looking for from a mental standpoint this year, per Cavs Twitter.

Last season, with Cleveland not being as athletic, they weren’t able to defend as well on the perimeter and couldn’t stop penetration well, leading to more opponent assists. Only the Atlanta Hawks conceded more opponent assists last year, per NBA.com.

Obviously with players such as Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward not playing for Boston, they’d probably have higher assist totals just from those players’ threat, but it’s looked good so far for Cleveland’s pushing pace tactic. Only six NBA teams have given up fewer assists to opponents.

Props to Lue for getting that playing faster is better for this team in the near future  on both ends.