The numbers behind Cavs impressive season

The Cavaliers statistical profile is crazier than their 29-4 record.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been dismantling their competition all season. That has been on display recently as they’ve won eight straight games by double figures. Let’s take a look at the numbers behind this impressive run.

The Cavs’ record compared to other all-time great teams

The Cavaliers are currently on a 72-win pace. If they finished at that mark, that would tie the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls for the second-most wins all-time. Through 33 games, the Bulls were 30-3 whereas the Cavs are currently 29-4. The 2015-16 Warriors—who finished with 73 wins before blowing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals—were 31-2 at this point in the season.

The 29-4 mark was also matched by the 2007-08 Boston Celtics (won the Finals), 2010-11 San Antonio Spurs (lost in the first round), and the 2004-05 Phoenix Suns (lost in Western Conference Finals). The Cavs are the fifth team to win 29 or more of their first 33 games since 2000.

Margin of victory

The Cavs are doing this with decisive victories as seen in their 11.6 net rating which is the same as the 2016 Warriors through their first 33 games. Cleveland’s impressive net rating shows through in their amount of double-digit victories as they’ve won 21 games by 10 or more points. For context, the 2016 Warriors only did that 19 times at this point of the season.

If you just counted Cleveland’s double-digit victories as wins and everything else as losses, they’d be 21-12 which would be behind just the Celtics (25-9) and New York Knicks (24-10) in the Eastern Conference. They’re also finding ways to win close games as well.

Clutch time performances

Not every game has been a blowout, The NBA defines clutch games as ones that are within five points in the final five minutes. Cleveland has the best clutch winning percentage and has the most clutch wins (12) despite ranking 21st in total games that reach clutch minutes (14).

The Cavs are blowing teams off the floor in these situations. They’ve registered an outrageous 51.5 net rating (1st) due to a 155.4 offensive rating (1st) and a 103.9 defensive rating (4th) in 39 minutes.

Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland are big reasons why. Mitchell is 26th in clutch-time points with .458/.600/.850 shooting splits. Garland has continued to be one of the most clutch players in the league as he’s 28th in clutch points while shooting 71.4% from the floor and 50% from three. Needless to say, that’s the best field goal percentage among players who take one or more clutch shots per game.

The offensive profile

Cleveland has the best offensive rating in the league (121.9), and trails only last year’s Celtics for the best offensive rating in league history (123.2). That isn’t surprising with how the league is trending, but it does speak to how good the Cavs' offense is.

Any great offense needs to be able to shoot the three well. The Cavs do that as they have the top three-point percentage in the league. Their 40.7% three-point shooting is the best percentage for a team since the 2020-21 Los Angeles Clippers who shot 41.1% on 34.7 threes per game. The Cavs are taking just under six more triples per game than that Clippers team did.

The Cavs have also hit 18 or more threes 13 times last year after doing that just 12 times last season.

Cleveland has been the best midrange shooting team this season as they’re connecting on 49.3% of their midrange shots. This includes completing 52.5% of their shots in the short midrange.

Kenny Atkinson’s offense has improved most in the half-court. They went from having the 18th-ranked offensive rating (97.8) in the half-court last season to having the best this season (107.6). This is on top of being the best offense in transition.

Lineup data

Atkinson was brought in to get Cleveland’s four best players on the same page after the Cavs registered a mediocre 2.7 net rating last season with their core fore of Garland, Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen on the floor together. This season, that group is outscoring opponents by 9.3 points per 100 possessions (84th percentile) with a 121.9 offensive rating (93rd percentile). Historically, you can’t win a championship if your best players don’t play great together.

There’ve been questions about whether you can build a strong offense around two bigs like Mobley and Allen. At least in the regular season, we know that you can. Lineups with both bigs on the floor have registered a 124.2 offensive rating (97th percentile). Meanwhile, groups with Mobley as the only center have a 16.5 net rating (98th percentile). The Cavs have simply been good with either one or both of their centers on the court.

The concerns about whether Mitchell and Garland can co-exist have also been quieted. The Cavs were outscored by 3.8 points per 100 possessions during last season’s playoffs when both were on the floor. This was after posting a 5.7 net rating (81st percentile) together in the regular season. This season, Cleveland has outscored opponents by 9.5 points per 100 possessions (84th percentile) with a 121.7 offensive rating (92nd percentile) with both guards on the court. That’s quite an improvement.

Everything is going right for the Cavs right now and the numbers reflect this. There will always be questions about whether all of this will carry over to the playoffs. That said, there’s nothing more the Cavs can do this regular season to show that it will.

Simply put, the Cavs are on one of the best regular season runs we’ve ever seen.