FanPost

Cavs succeeding by trying more, playing better ball

When's it about two months into the regular season and your team is incomplete (or rebuilding/tanking), it's usually okay to suck. It's normal. After all, this early stretch is the one where teams are still trying to figure things out and whether there should be key adjustments or not.

The 2014-15 Cavs went 19-20 halfway through the regular season before finally pulling it off in a stronger second half, with a help of a few transactions. The squad eventually won the Eastern Conference title and came two wins short of coveting the franchise's first championship.

This season, though Iman Shumpert (wrist) and Kyrie Irving (knee cap) were both sidelined for most of the Cavs' first quarter, the team still managed to impress. As of this writing, the Cavs are on a five-game winning streak and have an overall record of 18-7, the third-best in the league trailing only the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs.

The Cavs are the fourth-best offensive team and the seventh-best defensive team in the league. While it would be acceptable to suck, the Cavs instead rose; they have it all figured out, and they are playing better basketball.

A healthy Kevin Love, the ascent of Matthew Dellavedova as one of the more productive backcourt players in the NBA, and key contributions from veterans like Richard Jefferson, Mo Williams, and James Jones have led to a great start for the team trying to get back to the finals.

The Cavs put more emphasis to ball and player movement, lessened isolations, and made good use of their strengths. In their five-game winning streak, the Cavs have passed the ball by an average of 304.6 times/game, 35.2 times more than their opponents.

When the Cavs played the Portland Trailblazers last December 8, the team tried a new lineup in the second half. Kevin Love played the 5 and was surrounded by Jared Cunningham, Matthew Dellavedova, LeBron James, and JR Smith.

That unit on the floor played for 10 minutes and had a net rating of 59.6. The Cavs were able to space the floor more and a vital piece of going on a virtual four-out, one-in unit is that the one person inside should a solid post option. Love has provided that, and the Cavs are able to utilize this strength.

Love has been attempting more field goals inside of 10 feet throughout the five-game stretch (52.1 percent of his shots are within 10 feet) than prior to that (37.6 percent) and has had more post touches. The forward has climbed to 9th in post-up frequency, and is 5th in points per possession off post-ups, per Synergy Sports.

Against the Oklahoma City Thunder last week, the Cavs ran 1-4 pick and rolls with LeBron James as the 4 guy. The result was devastating for the Thunder, which kept switching on the ball screens. Russell Westbrook ended up taking James and James would just fire jumpers or drive strong to the basket.

LeBron playing power forward isn't necessarily something new; when he was with the Miami Heat, the team surrounded him with shooters like Shane Battier, Mike Miller, Ray Allen, and James Jones. It was up to them to use that tool to create havoc for the opposing team.

The Cavs outscored the Thunder 20-2 at one stretch when LeBron was playing the four, and Cleveland maintained the separation in the second half.

Throughout the five-game winning streak, a four-man unit of Cunningham-Dellavedova-James-Love was one of the most used lineups at 28 minutes, and it yielded a +48 net rating.

By going to their strengths, and playing simpler, more efficient basketball, the Cavs have succeeded early even when the roster isn't in full strength. Now with Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert back in action, the foreseeable future certainly looks bright for Cleveland.

They will have more options, more ways to attack, and better defense. The Cavs understand gaining long term success will have to depend on how they play, and the only way to win a ton of games is really by playing good, solid, team basketball.

While not yet among the ranks of "super teams" in the league, who knows what the Cavs can achieve if they continue playing this way every night.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on FearTheSword.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff at FearTheSword

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