The Cleveland Cavaliers are 25 games into the regular season, and they’ve only lost four games. Multiple stats prove that the Wine and Gold are one of, if not the best, team in the NBA.
John Schuhmann of NBA.com seems to agree with that, as he placed the Cavaliers No. 1 in his latest power rankings. This position was the same spot the Wine and Gold found themselves in in last week’s edition.
Cleveland is directly behind the Boston Celtics, and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, and Memphis Grizzlies round out the top five.
The Cavaliers continue to have the second-best offensive rating (120.4) and second-best net rating (+9.7) in the league, which has helped them get off to such a dominant start.
Schuhmann does note one concern with the Cavalier’s game plan, which is starting to become common knowledge among those around the NBA: Cleveland isn’t great at defending the three-point shot.
“When the Cavs have lost, it’s been more about defense than offense. 100). And it’s been mostly about how well their opponents have shot from 3-point range (35.1% in wins vs. 46.8% in losses). According to Second Spectrum tracking, 51% of their opponents’ 3-point attempts have been wide open, a rate that’s right at the league average,” wrote Schuhmann.
Right now, Cleveland has been able to drive their lackluster three-point defense by outscoring their opponents.
However, if they want to maintain their spot as the NBA’s best team and make a deep playoff run, they must figure out how to improve in this department.
