Cavaliers’ perfect 13-0 start: Evan Mobley’s rise isn’t the only thing fueling this early winning streak

The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the midst of a historic start. They’ve already broken a franchise record for best start to a season, currently have the sixth-longest winning streak in league history, and could very well be 20-0 by early December. That’s if a highly anticipated matchup with the defending champions goes well for Cleveland when they play the Celtics on the road in a NBA Cup match on November 19.

But for now, the Cavaliers are the league favorites. They have won close games, like a pair of wins over the Bucks who won by a total of three points. Cleveland also defeated lesser competitors, such as the 30-point victory against the Raptors in their first game of the season. No one could have predicted the Cavs would get off to such a good start, and yet here we are. In an effort to explain how they got here, here are three factors that have contributed to Cleveland’s impressive winning streak.

Red hot three point shot

The Cavaliers are in the middle of the pack in terms of three-pointers made per game, literally 15th in the league (37.2). But they are producing them at a blistering rate of 41.2%, which ranks first. This number is unlikely to hold up, especially when you have someone like Isaac Okoro shooting 48.5% from deep. Okoro has become a decent 3-point shooter after shooting 29% from deep in his rookie season, but he’s a low-volume shooter, not someone who strikes fear into opponents when you leave him open. Darius Garland is also unlikely to continue shooting 44.9% from downtown, and specifically 39.5% from 3-point range off the rebound. But that’s how the Cavaliers have been winning games. They have four guys shooting over 36% from deep on 4+ attempts per game. That’s the type of shot that wins championships in June, but we’ll see if it holds up throughout the season.

What is likely? willpower The retention of Cleveland’s shooting stretch is the number of open threes they are making. The Cavs make 20.3 open threes per game. That number ranks ninth, but they’re hitting those threes at an incredible 49.6% clip. That’s because of all the drives and kicks initiated by Donovan Mitchell and Garland, and their teammates are finishing the job when they get the ball on the perimeter. This is no different than what the Cavs did under JB Bickerstaff last season because, with two guards who draw a lot of attention when they get to the rim, your team will get a lot of open looks, but the Cavs are knocking them down. a ridiculous pace at the moment.

Cavaliers’ three-point shots on open attempts

The Cavs have been making teams pay at the 3-point line, and while that number will be up and down throughout the season, if they hit a cold shooting streak, they have this next factor to rely on that they didn’t have before. .

My colleague James Herbert wrote a fantastic piece on Mobley’s offensive riseand in it, Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson revealed that 70% of his interview with the team before being hired last summer was about how he would use Mobley to unlock the offensive game of the lottery pick. 2021. Through the first three seasons of Mobley’s career, he became an elite defender, not just elite, but a foundational Defensive Player of the Year type of defender. He was efficient on offense, averaging 15.6 points in three seasons, but lacked the aggressiveness to make opponents change their defensive tactics.

Through 13 games this season, Mobley and the Cavaliers are making defenders sweat. Atkinson has given Mobley more control of the offense, he’s elevating the ball, orchestrating things in transition and maybe raising eyebrows, running inverted pick and rolls where he is the ball handler, not the blocker. It’s allowed Mobley to show off some of his skills while taking advantage of mismatches, whether it’s someone too small to keep out of the paint or a big man who’s too slow to stay in front of him. Mobley may have a thin frame, but he is capable of fighting for a foul through contact.

As a result, Mobley nearly doubled the number of drives he had per game last season, and he also became more efficient when going downhill.

Mobley’s highest efficiency in units per game

Having a nearly 7’0 center forward who can also handle the ball has given the Cavaliers a new facet to their offense to start the season, and so far, teams haven’t figured out how to stop them or Mobley.

The slow and steady pace is a thing of the past.

In each of Bickerstaff’s five seasons with the Cavaliers, the team ranked the following in pace:

• 2019-20:23
• 2020-21:25
• 2021-22:25
• 2022-23:30
• 2023-24:24

In 13 games with Atkinson at the helm, the Cavaliers are in 10th place. The message has been clear: this team will go out and run. A faster pace isn’t always indicative of a good team, just look at the Bulls, they have the fastest pace in the league and still rank 23rd in offense. But Cleveland’s faster pace has them touting the league’s second-best offense. They are playing fast and giving positive results. It is no longer necessary to bleed the shot clock before executing a set piece. The Cavaliers are getting up and taking action immediately.

That change in philosophy is a better use of the talents of someone like Mitchell, who takes advantage of his speed to force the defense to make tough decisions. Cleveland isn’t moving the ball like Golden State or Indiana, two teams that don’t waste time flogging the ball on offense. But the Cavs are making quicker decisions on offense and not wasting as much time, and that’s forcing teams to change the scouting report on them.

After a second-round playoff exit at the hands of the Celtics that highlighted the gap between the two teams, Cleveland began this season closing that gap. They have the best record in the league, and even if it’s only 13 games, they look like a team primed to go far in the postseason.

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