The Cleveland Cavaliers' 3-Point Problem
Are they bad defending the arc or are they unlucky?
MY OFFICE — The Cleveland Cavaliers have a big problem on the defensive end of the floor in the form of the 3-point arc1.
This is not the only issue the team has had this season, and might not even be the biggest one2, but it’s the one that shows up routinely.
When the Cavs lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday afternoon, several things went wrong. But the thing that sticks out of the box score like a sore thumb is that the Thunder made 23 3-pointers against the Cavs, the most of any opponent so far this season.
Monday was the fifth time this season that an opponent has made 20 or more 3-pointers against the Cavs3 and the 16th time this season an opponent has shot 40 percent or better from deep against them4. As a whole this season, opponents have shot 38.6 percent from 3-point range against the Cavs.
For reference, Donovan Mitchell entered play on Wednesday shooting 38.4 percent on 3-pointers this season.
Those numbers are very worrisome5 for Cleveland.
They also beg the question of how much of this can be chalked up to bad luck while how much or it is because of poor defense or strategy.
The answer, as always, is it’s a bit of both.
Let’s start with the strategy aspect of things.
The Cavs are a team that’s presently constructed without a great perimeter defender. They miss Isaac Okoro in this aspect of things. As a group they’ve struggled to contain ball handlers and it’s cost them. Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson prefers the team to protect the rim first and worry about everything else later.
Given that the most efficient shots in basketball are ones at the rim, followed by free throws and corner 3-pointers, this is a wise strategy. It’s one that works for them, too. Entering Tuesday night’s games, the Cavs have the second-best rim protection in the NBA, only behind Oklahoma City. Opponents are shooting just 62 percent on attempts inside the restricted area against the Cavs on 26.6 attempts per game. They’re allowing too many attempts, but this speaks to how good both Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen6 are at blocking and altering shots.
Having two elite rim protectors should mean that living with more attempts at the rim than average isn’t the worst thing in the world for the Cavs. The perimeter defense could do a better job to prevent this, certainly, but the real issue is the need for other defenders to help.
So far this season, the Cavs are getting crushed by opponents that feast on corner 3-pointers. Those are often the result of opponents driving the ball into the lane and then kicking out to an open shooter. To date, Cleveland’s opponents are shooting 43 percent on 9.4 corner 3-point attempts per game. The only team allowing a worse percentage is the Brooklyn Nets.
Some of this is the result of the Cavs being put into rotation by an opponent and needing to scramble to recover. The best offense is capable of doing that. Great ball movement for a possession often leads to great shots.
This possession by Utah was really good ball movement. It started with a very difficult cross-court pass that got the Cavs into rotation. It didn’t help that the Cavs were already a bit mismatched at the start of the clip with Mitchell defending Lauri Markkanen and Mobley on Keyonte George. The Cavs could have done a much better job than they did once they were rotating, considering two guys run at the ball on two separate instances, but overall the Jazz deserve some credit for this one.
The next clip is an example of Mitchell over-helping from the perimeter, leading to an open 3-pointer for Utah’s Cody Williams. In Mitchell’s defense, Williams is not a good 3-point shooter. He’s a guy that can be helped off of7, but this is a shot almost every perimeter player in the NBA is capable of knocking down.
