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With 70% of the regular season in the books and the All-Star break upon us, I thought I’d dig up a few numbers to see what the Cavs are doing well and where they need to improve before the playoffs start after only 24 more games.
Overall the Cavs are 7th in average point margin and 8th in winning percentage. Breaking it down by quarters, the Cavs are 8th best in 1st quarter margin, 8th in 2nd quarter margin, 6th in 3rd quarter margin, and 21st in 4th quarter margin. The Cavs rank 5th in scoring margin after three quarters. IOW, the Cavs are the 5th best team in the NBA in quarters 1-3 and the 21st in the 4th quarter. JBB needs to figure out what is going on with that.
Does he need to make some changes in his personnel groupings in the 4th quarter? I think he generally starts out with Garland on the bench. Do the Cavs get off to a bad start with Garland down and then tighten up when the opponent gets on a roll and the Cavs’ lead starts disappearing?
Maybe sit Garland down with 3-4 minutes left in the 3rd and start him in the 4th quarter, then give him a short rest midway?
Defensively the Cavs give up the same number of points in each quarter: 26.0, 26.0, 25.1, and 25.4. Offensively the Cavs are better in the first half: 27.9, 27.3, 26.5, and 24.9. It’s not bad; the Cavs are getting outscored in the 4th quarter by only 0.5 points. But they could be better.
Offensively the Cavs rank 18th in efficiency, which is points per possession. The Cavs play at the slowest pace in the league, ranking last in field goal attempts per game. Another factor is the Cavs rank 29th in turnovers per possession, which limits the number of shots.
The Cavs rank 11th in points in the paint and 7th in shooting percentage at the rim. There’s nothing wrong with their inside game. They are 15th in 3-point shooting percentage. Overall they are 9th in effective field goal percentage, so you’d think they’d be higher than 18th in efficiency. But the high turnover rate and the low free throw shooting percentage (24th) drag down the scoring.
The Cavs are 16th in free throw attempts per game but 24th in free throws made.
The Cavs pass the ball (7th in assists per possession), hit their shots (9th in effective field goal percentage), and crash the glass (9th in offensive rebound percentage). Considering they are in the top 10 in assists, field goal shooting, and offensive rebounding you’d expect them to easily be in the top 10 in scoring. But the turnovers and bad free throw shooting drag them down to 18th.
Garland, Okoro, and Rondo are the biggest offenders when it comes to turnovers, but Allen and Stevens are below average.
Defensively the Cavs rank 4th in efficiency and 4th in effective field goal percentage. They’re 3rd in opponents’ 2-point shooting percentage and 9th in 3-point percentage. They’re 11th in preventing points in the paint. The one statistic where they lead the NBA is opponent free throws per possession. The Cavs are the best at not fouling.
The only area where the Cavs are below average defensively is block percentage where they rank 24th. I expected them to be much higher but they only have two regular players who are above average for their positions (Allen, Mobley) and several who are well below average (Love, Wade, Cedi, Garland). All in all, there’s nothing wrong with the defense.
So my take is that over the next 24 games the biggest task for the Cavs as a team is to reduce turnovers. Considering they rank 9th in effective field goal percentage they should be scoring more than they are, but all those turnovers are not only preventing shots but they frequently result in uncontested fast break buckets.
One reason the Cavs have a lot of turnovers (almost 15 per game) is they pass the ball (7th in assist rate). Teams that do a lot of isolation one-on-one and who fire up a lot of 3’s tend not to turn the ball over as much. Also the Cavs like to get the ball to their bigs near the rim, which results in strips when defenses collapse and double- or triple-team the ball before our big can get the shot up.
Still, we need to do better than 29th in turnovers.
Free throw shooting is another area that could use improvement. The Cavs have lost a couple of games where they missed 10 or more free throws and lost by less than 5 points. I’d hate to see that happen in the playoffs.
The defense is great, but the offense is a little below average. The task over the rest of the season is to reduce turnovers, improve the free throw shooting, and figure out how to best utilize Caris LeVert. At the moment it’s not working. Through his first four games the Cavs have been an incredible 17.9 points per 100 possessions WORSE when LeVert is in the game. He’s shooting 39% overall and 28% on 3’s. Clearly he’s not comfortable with his new team. JBB needs to figure out what combination of players he works best with and get him a lot of reps with that group before the playoffs start.
Overall the Cavs are 7th in average point margin and 8th in winning percentage. Breaking it down by quarters, the Cavs are 8th best in 1st quarter margin, 8th in 2nd quarter margin, 6th in 3rd quarter margin, and 21st in 4th quarter margin. The Cavs rank 5th in scoring margin after three quarters. IOW, the Cavs are the 5th best team in the NBA in quarters 1-3 and the 21st in the 4th quarter. JBB needs to figure out what is going on with that.
Does he need to make some changes in his personnel groupings in the 4th quarter? I think he generally starts out with Garland on the bench. Do the Cavs get off to a bad start with Garland down and then tighten up when the opponent gets on a roll and the Cavs’ lead starts disappearing?
Maybe sit Garland down with 3-4 minutes left in the 3rd and start him in the 4th quarter, then give him a short rest midway?
Defensively the Cavs give up the same number of points in each quarter: 26.0, 26.0, 25.1, and 25.4. Offensively the Cavs are better in the first half: 27.9, 27.3, 26.5, and 24.9. It’s not bad; the Cavs are getting outscored in the 4th quarter by only 0.5 points. But they could be better.
Offensively the Cavs rank 18th in efficiency, which is points per possession. The Cavs play at the slowest pace in the league, ranking last in field goal attempts per game. Another factor is the Cavs rank 29th in turnovers per possession, which limits the number of shots.
The Cavs rank 11th in points in the paint and 7th in shooting percentage at the rim. There’s nothing wrong with their inside game. They are 15th in 3-point shooting percentage. Overall they are 9th in effective field goal percentage, so you’d think they’d be higher than 18th in efficiency. But the high turnover rate and the low free throw shooting percentage (24th) drag down the scoring.
The Cavs are 16th in free throw attempts per game but 24th in free throws made.
The Cavs pass the ball (7th in assists per possession), hit their shots (9th in effective field goal percentage), and crash the glass (9th in offensive rebound percentage). Considering they are in the top 10 in assists, field goal shooting, and offensive rebounding you’d expect them to easily be in the top 10 in scoring. But the turnovers and bad free throw shooting drag them down to 18th.
Garland, Okoro, and Rondo are the biggest offenders when it comes to turnovers, but Allen and Stevens are below average.
Defensively the Cavs rank 4th in efficiency and 4th in effective field goal percentage. They’re 3rd in opponents’ 2-point shooting percentage and 9th in 3-point percentage. They’re 11th in preventing points in the paint. The one statistic where they lead the NBA is opponent free throws per possession. The Cavs are the best at not fouling.
The only area where the Cavs are below average defensively is block percentage where they rank 24th. I expected them to be much higher but they only have two regular players who are above average for their positions (Allen, Mobley) and several who are well below average (Love, Wade, Cedi, Garland). All in all, there’s nothing wrong with the defense.
So my take is that over the next 24 games the biggest task for the Cavs as a team is to reduce turnovers. Considering they rank 9th in effective field goal percentage they should be scoring more than they are, but all those turnovers are not only preventing shots but they frequently result in uncontested fast break buckets.
One reason the Cavs have a lot of turnovers (almost 15 per game) is they pass the ball (7th in assist rate). Teams that do a lot of isolation one-on-one and who fire up a lot of 3’s tend not to turn the ball over as much. Also the Cavs like to get the ball to their bigs near the rim, which results in strips when defenses collapse and double- or triple-team the ball before our big can get the shot up.
Still, we need to do better than 29th in turnovers.
Free throw shooting is another area that could use improvement. The Cavs have lost a couple of games where they missed 10 or more free throws and lost by less than 5 points. I’d hate to see that happen in the playoffs.
The defense is great, but the offense is a little below average. The task over the rest of the season is to reduce turnovers, improve the free throw shooting, and figure out how to best utilize Caris LeVert. At the moment it’s not working. Through his first four games the Cavs have been an incredible 17.9 points per 100 possessions WORSE when LeVert is in the game. He’s shooting 39% overall and 28% on 3’s. Clearly he’s not comfortable with his new team. JBB needs to figure out what combination of players he works best with and get him a lot of reps with that group before the playoffs start.