The Cavaliers are dominating the advanced metrics
By pure record, the Cavaliers are the fifth-best team in the NBA. But peel back the layers even a little, and it soon becomes apparent that they have performed even better than that over the course of the season.
By net rating, the Cavs have been the second-best team in the NBA this season, just a sliver behind the Boston Celtics. SRS, which factors strength of schedule into the equation, likewise places the Cavaliers at second; same thing with FiveThirtyEight’s Elo rating, and Cleaning the Glass’s point differential.
Estimated Plus-Minus, one of the best all-in-one metrics available, places the Cavaliers first in the league with an adjusted net rating of +6.0, in a virtual tie with the Celtics. The Cavs have been playing their best basketball recently as well, as they are first in net rating since the beginning of February.
To sum all of that up, the Cavaliers are top-2 in nearly every major team metric out there, and are first over the past few weeks. This is a team that is performing as well as any team out there, with more still to offer.