The Cleveland Cavaliers are 32-4. Let me say that again, the Cleveland Cavaliers are 32-4. They have also won 11 games in a row. New coach Kenny Atkinson has completely changed this team’s offense leading them to the best offense in the NBA. This is a different team than they were a year ago with guys who know how to play together. How have they done it?
Over the past week the Oklahoma City Thunder have played the Knicks, Celtics and Cavaliers. New York scored 66 first half points, Boston scored 65 first half points and Cleveland scored 62 first half points, all in the same range. Against New York and Boston, OKC’s defense locked in during the second half allowing 41 points to the Knicks and just 27 points to the Celtics. The league’s best defense struggled in the first half but locked in during the second half and won both those games. In the second half on Wednesday night, the Cavaliers scored 67 points, matching New York’s 41 total points in the third quarter alone. These are the 3 best offenses in the Association and while the Thunder locked down 2 and 3, they couldn’t stop number 1. This was in spite of Donovan Mitchell scoring 11 points on 3/16 from the field in Wednesday’s 129-122 Cavs win. A lot of this has to do with Oklahoma City having no answer for Cleveland’s double big lineup. In 3,265 minutes played together from 2021-22 to 2023-24, the Cavaliers had an offensive rating of 115.6 with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen on the court together and in the playoffs that number dropped to 105.6. This season, in 509 minutes they are at 126.5. Allen and Mobley figuring out how to play together to become elite on offense changes everything for the Cavs. In the win against the Thunder, Allen had 25 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists while Mobley had 21 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. The big to big passing has become a game changer for the Cavaliers.
Another big part of the Cavs ascension is Darius Garland’s bounce back season. After breaking his jaw in December 2023, Garland was not the same player the rest of the season. During the first 20 games he played he averaged 20.7 points on shooting splits of .47/.35/.84. After coming back, over the last 37 games, he averaged 18.0 points on shooting splits of .45/.37/.83. He was not himself which carried over to the playoffs when he averaged 15.7 points per game on .43/.35/.81. This year, all of Garland’s numbers are up, averaging 20.7 points and 6.7 assists on splits of .49/.43/.91, he is close to a 50/40/90 season (which is 50% from the field, 40% from 3 and 90% from the line). He is having a much better season and has been a huge key to the Cavs being 32-4.
Cleveland is a legit threat in the Eastern Conference. This is a different team than the one the Knicks eliminated in 2023 and the Celtics eliminated in 2024. Their offense is that good and their defense has improved since last year as well. A lot of their offensive progression has been due to Donovan Mitchell willingness to sacrifice. His points per game and field goal attempts are the lowest they have been since his rookie season and Cleveland is better off for it. Getting Allen, Mobley and Garland along with the rest of the team involved is important and Mitchell knows that. However, they’ll still need Mitchell if they want to win the east. With a 5.5 game lead over the Celtics, it looks like Cleveland is likely going to be the number 1 seed so they’ll, in all likelihood, avoid the Celtics and Knicks until the Conference Finals. Though Mitchell won’t be the best player in any Celtics series, he can be the best player in a Knicks series so that is what the Cavs need him to be. Donovan Mitchell’s sacrifice this season has played a key reason to why the Cavaliers can win the NBA title.
There is not a ton the Cavs can do in the trade market. For starters, Caris LeVert and Max Strus are their biggest contracts to trade, that aren’t the 4 stars, and those guys have become very valuable to them and secondly, they traded all their first round picks to Utah for Mitchell in 2023. They have their full non-tax payer mid-level exception so that makes it easier to make a deal. Toronto’s Kelly Olynyk could make a lot of sense for the Cavaliers to trade for. Send the Raptors Georges Niang and a couple of 2nd round picks to strengthen a thin center room behind Mobley and Allen. The Cavs won’t be huge players during the deadline but I think they make a move to get better on the margins.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have a chance to win the NBA Finals this year and LeBron James is not on the roster. When was the last time you could have said that? The Mark Price and Brad Daugherty days? This team is that good. With a win pace of 72.89, Cleveland has proven that they are a championship caliber team.
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