The Cleveland Cavaliers have had a strong start to the season, winning six of their first ten games and racking up a number of impressive wins. One of the standout factors of their success has been the low point totals of their opponents, holding teams under 100 points three times, and under 105 six times.
Why, then, are the Cavs only 12th in the league in defensive rating? The reason is that their opponents’ point totals are depressed by Cleveland’s slow pace (for that matter, the Cavs’ point totals are too). Cleveland is averaging just 98.5 possessions per 48 minutes, which ranks 21st in the league. Is the Cavs’ slow pace a good thing, or a bad thing? And will it last? Let’s dig a little deeper.
3 insights into Cavs’ slow pace: No. 1 – The Cavs rank 29th in time-to-shot
First, we need a better stat than pace. How many possessions a team has in a game or “per-48” is influenced by their opponent’s pace. Is there a stat that measures only one team’s pace in getting up shots? There is. The stat site “inpredictable” tracks a shot called “time to shot” which starts the clock when a certain team gains possession and stops it when a shot goes up.
The Cavaliers rank just 29th in time to shot, shooting a hair faster than the Philadelphia 76ers. On average it takes the Cavs 12.5 seconds from when they gain possession until they shoot, or just over half of the shot clock. For reference, the Atlanta Hawks rank first in this statistic, shooting on average 11 seconds after they get the ball.
Pace by itself is not an indicator of a strong offense per se, but generally, the faster you get a shot up the more efficient that shot will be, as defenses race to get back and scramble into position. The later into the shot clock you go, the more the defense is prepared. Go too late, and the defense gains a sixth defender in the form of the shot clock itself.
Yet faster teams often lose some or all of their gains at the other end, where their fast pace tires out their own defenders. Playing fast also tends to increase turnovers, which can yield efficient looks to the opposing team. Pace itself is not a golden egg to pursue. That being said, fastbreak offense is the game’s most efficient period of time; are the Cavs at least taking advantage there?