Cleveland: Where It Only Takes 3 Quarters

The 2007-2008 Cleveland Cavaliers led the NBA in 4th quarter comebacks by a large margin.  You don’t have to look far to understand why.  A quick visit to 82games.com reveals that LeBron James was absolutely dominant in “clutch” sequences.  How clutch you ask? According to the data, if you extrapolated his production during “clutch” situations (defined as 5 minutes remaining with neither team ahead by more than 5 pts) LeBron averaged 56/9/8/3/2 (pts/reb/ast/stl/blk) on 48% shooting.  Incredible.  But because the Cavs were such a mediocre regular season team, it took all of that and more just to secure a 4-seed in the East.  And it wasn’t like LeBron’s clutchness was based on a small sample size.  In fact, LeBron played 41 more “clutch” minutes than anyone else in the NBA last season, totaling 215 minutes of pressure situations.  We haven’t seen quite the same LeBron this season.  He has literally disappeared in 4th quarters.

Sure, he looked good early on.  After 11 possible “clutch” minutes LeBron’s per 48 minute production was 87/16/4/4/4 (pts/reb/ast/stl/blk).  No, those are not typos.

However, since November 11th, LeBron has not stepped onto a court during a “clutch” situation.  In fact, in 6 of the last 7 games, LeBron James has not stepped onto a basketball court in the ENTIRE FOURTH QUARTER.

With a dominant performance over the Raptors last night, the Cavaliers tallied their 9th straight win by 12 points or more – setting the all-time NBA record.  During their 9 game winning streak they have outscored opponents by an average of 21 points per game.  All this, without LeBron James playing the final 12 minutes.

While the Celtics and Lakers hog the spotlight, the Cavs have decided to crash the party – wearing towels, drinking Gatorade, and sporting some refined dance moves.  And while the Celtics and Lakers have struggled at times to fend off some weak opponents, the Cavaliers have basically settled many of their games before halftime, using the 4th quarter to practice said dance moves.

So having seen the Cavs extensively this year, I’m here to answer some of your questions.  Here are the ones I know you are just dying to ask.

1.) Has the addition of Mo Williams really made this much of a difference?
2.) How, exactly, are the Cavs doing this?
3.) It’s early in the season, Is this dominance sustainable?
4.) What are the Cavs biggest strengths/weaknesses?
5.) What was the fate of the two teams that previously held the NBA record at 8 games of  +12 points or more?

Those are all great questions.

1. Has the addition of Mo Williams really made this much of a difference?

There are three things that you have to understand about the addition of Mo Williams.  First, it’s really the addition of two players, since Delonte West has been able to go back to his natural position, SG.  He is thriving there as a role player, looking to score early and often – and being able to concentrate more on defense and not running the offense.  Second, Mo Williams is the first player not named LeBron that the Cavs have had that can create his own offense.  This might sound cliché, but it is just huge for a team like the Cavs.  Now, when the offense breaks down, they have a guy that can just flat out score, in any situation.  But third, and most important, is the way the Cavs offense sets up when Big Zydrunas Ilgauskas is in the game.  In the past, since LeBron was the best ball-handler and best passer, it was LeBron making entry passes into Z.  And since Mike Brown has an obsession with getting Z involved, LeBron was making LOTS of entry passes to the big man.  The problem with this is the way the defense can align itself.  Basically, the defense always shields towards LeBron.  Since there is no such thing as a cross-court entry pass, the best defenders were always on the same side of the court as LeBron and Z.  After the pass, LeBron usually never cut to the hoop because it just clogged up the lane even more for Z.  And since Z is not exactly known for his passing, these sorts of offensive possessions were only successful if Big Z bailed them out with an ugly hook shot or turn-around fadeaway.  Neither were high percentage, because he had little room to operate with the defense shielded to that side of the court.

The addition of Mo Williams makes everyone better, and it’s easy to see why.  Now that Mo Williams is making the entry passes to Z, the offense is completely different.  For starters, LeBron is setting up on the opposite side of the court, curling toward the opposite elbow.  If he catches the ball here, he is moving towards his left, which is where he is most comfortable shooting.  In addition, his movement draws defenders away from Delonte West, who is get more wide open looks than you can imagine in that corner.  Meanwhile, the defense is still shielded towards LeBron, so Z has much more room to operate on the block.  And lastly, Mo Williams is a deadly shooter so if his defender decides to help on LeBron or Z then he is left wide open on the wing.  For all the talk about Mo Williams getting the Cavs out an running, it is actually the half court sets where his presence has been the most noticeable.  Big Z is getting high percentage shots and is having a career year statistically.  Delonte’s numbers have increased dramatically this year as well.  All of this because of Mo Williams.

2.) How exactly, are the Cavs doing this?

Defense, Defense, Defense, oh and they are first in the NBA in offensive efficiency.  The Cavaliers are doing almost everything right.  They’re bringing energy and focus night in and night out, and they are redefining teamwork.

First things first – they are just an elite defensive team.  They are first in the NBA in opponent FG%.  To a man, they have made a commitment to defense and it shows.  Brian Windhorst pointed out that the Cavs’ guards have done a great job of limiting dribble-penetration, while a healthy front line has been shutting down their opponents’ bigs.

Offensively, the Cavs share the ball as well as any team in the NBA.  They are making the extra pass and getting everyone involved.  This is something that Cavs fans have not seen since the days of Mark Price.  Team chemistry is at an all-time high and the balance of scoring has been remarkable.  This is no longer a LeBron on 5 system.  Everyone is pitching in.  There have been three games this season in which all 12 Cavaliers have scored.

3.) It’s early in the season, is this dominance sustainable?

Sometimes when a team goes on a run, it doesn’t take much detective work to figure out why.  Maybe a 6th man is just lighting people up, maybe a star player is having an unbelievable month, or maybe the schedule is very easy.  Oftentimes, a team gets hot shooting the ball and good offensive beats good defense.  With the Cavs, there really hasn’t been any of this.  For one, in spite of their abundance of three point bombers, they are really not shooting all that well from beyond the arc despite myriad open looks.   Currently the Cavs are shooting below .350 from beyond the arc.  Their opponents are actually shooting better that that.   A quick comparison of individual percentages from last year reveals: Mo Williams dropped from .385 to .360, Wally Szczerbiak dropped from .413 to .342, Boobie Gibson dropped from .440 to .310, and LeBron James dropped from .315 to .269.  Only Delonte West has improved his 3 point shooting, raising his average to .435 from .356.

So it’s not like the Cavs are relying on 3-pointers during this streak.  What about luck?  Well, the Cavs opponents have shot 79% from the foul line this season.  Compare that to a team like the Lakers, whose opponents have only converted 74% of the time.  And if you look at free throw disparity, despite scoring the vast majority of their points in the paint, the Cavs have only shot 18 more free throws than opponents this season.  Compare that to the Celtics, a jump-shooting team, that has shot 76 more free throws than their opponents thus far.

Strength of schedule is harder to quantify.  Based solely on winning percentage, the Cavaliers(.495) have had a stronger schedule than both Boston(.491) and LA(.486), but not by much.  One thing to note is that the Cavs won 4 games in 5 nights with the 5th game coming on the road at the back end of a back-to back.  So it hasn’t been as easy as some would believe.

So the answer is…YES.  The Cavaliers can certainly sustain their level of play.  They are outplaying opponents on both ends of the floor and LeBron is leading a balanced attack.  The Cavs are methodically dismantling teams.  With the exception of the game against Toronto last night, the Cavs really haven’t used crazy runs to beat their opponents.  They have just played better from opening tip off until the 3rd comes in and the starters loosen their laces.

4. What are the Cavs biggest strengths?

Defense, rebounding, and LeBron has been the Cavs recipe for success over the years.  This year they are playing small and thus giving up more rebounds, but their ball movement, defensive intensity and bench scoring has been huge compared to years past.  Their depth is becoming increasingly impressive – as Sasha Pavlovic, glued to the bench at the start of the season, has exhibited tremendous defensive efforts and has hit some pretty big shots in the very few occasions where the Cavs have needed a big shot.  Varejao and LeBron are playing tremendous 2-man games and Mo Williams has fit into the system perfectly.

Depth is also a weakness.  If any of the Cavs frontcourt rotation players went down with injury, they would be in big trouble.  Right now they are all comfortably sharing the load, and the blowouts has given veterans Z and Wallace more rest than anyone could have expected.  But having only 3 reliable big men to play 2 positions is treading dangerous waters.  Offensively, their offense still stalls once in a while.  It’s nothing like last year, but against a team like Boston, it is bound to happen from time to time as Boston’s pesky defense will assuredly junk up the Cavs offensive schemes.  Other than that, there really aren’t any weaknesses with this Cavs team.  Their free throw shooting has increased from 72% to 77%.  They are the most efficient offensive team in the NBA.  They are in an elite class with only Boston on the defensive end, and they have a guy named LeBron up their sleeve.

5.) What was the fate of the two teams that previously held the NBA record at 8 games of  +12 points or more?

Jordan’s Bulls and Chauncey’s Pistons both took home the Larry O’Brien Trophy those years.  And I believe the Cavs will share the same fate.  When I look at how last year’s playoffs ended, with the Cavs relying so heavily on LeBron once again and falling just short (in spite of outscoring the Celtics for the series) it was very easy to point to a few unlucky bounces that sent the Cavs fishing.  But they played championship-caliber defense (again) in the playoffs and have only looked better so far this season at that end.  Going into the season I truly thought Mo Williams was the answer.  In a few circles I picked the Cavs to win the title after they traded for him.  I remember last year, midway through the season thinking, I’d rather have Mo Williams than Michael Redd on the Cavs.  But in spite of everything I thought, I really did not know if LeBron could learn to play off the ball after being forced to pound the rock for 5 years.  Even so, I believed that the few extra points per game that Mo Williams would bail the Cavs out with would be enough offense to squeak by the world champs.  Watching this team exhibit unbelievable chemistry on and off the court, and looking forward to how rested LeBron, Z, and Ben Wallace are going to be come spring, I think the Cavs will take home the trophy.

Tsunami grew up in Parma Ohio, the largest suburb of Cleveland. He started listening to Cavs games when he was 5 years old. He would hide under the covers and pretend he was asleep while tuning into Joe Tait on the radio. His favorite player growing up was Mark Price. Today, he is a graduate student working in Dayton, OH.