Cavs: 4 crazy stats after the first four games of the season
Cavs: 2 crazy stats for the offensive end
Stat #3: The Cavaliers are shooting 79.2 percent from inside three feet
The Cleveland Cavaliers have been monsters inside this season, ranking top-5 in dunks (Jarrett Allen is first in the league) and sitting second in terms of field goal percentage at the rim. Some of those made baskets have been self-created, but the Cavs have done an excellent job of setting each other up for lobs and passes on the roll.
What is even more impressive is that last year the Cavs ranked dead last in this number, hitting just 62.6 percent of their shots at the rim. The emphasis on getting into the defense and then finding the open big man has been clear on film, and the numbers back it up. The most efficient shots in basketball are at the rim, and the Cavs have been taking full advantage.
Stat #4: Lauri Markkanen is shooting just 30.8 percent from the field
The Cavs acquired 7-foot marksman Lauri Markkanen this offseason to give their offense a shooting spark. Instead the Cavs are trending in the opposite direction — after ranking 30th by hitting just 33.6 percent of their 3-pointers last season, they have hit just 30.3 percent thus far this year.
Markkanen is a major factor in that, hitting just seven of his 26 3-point attempts thus far (26.9 percent) and overall shooting just 30.8 percent from the field. Despite the cold shooting he leads the team in 3-point attempts and is second to Sexton in overall field goal attempts. That’s a good thing — Markkanen is a good shooter going through a slump, and it looks worse since it’s the start of the season. His shot will come around and the team will want him to be shooting. Even so, no one was expecting his shot to be as cold as his native Finland, and the longer the slump goes on, the worse that contract looks.
Next. 3 potential trades for Cavs to add scoring on the wing. dark
Four games is a tiny sample size in an 82-game season, and most of these numbers will look significantly different by the end of the year — or even after another four games. Yet perhaps they give us a glimpse of how the team will look this year, and at the very least they will be fun to track.