The Cleveland Cavaliers had their worst offensive display of the season as they lost to the Golden State Warriors 99-94 on Saturday night.
Here are the four factors from this game. These numbers are from Cleaning
the Glass.
Now, let’s dive into some of the stats.
- Cleveland’s 97.9 offensive rating (5th percentile) for the game was their worst of the season. Their previous low was 98 during their Nov. 24 loss to the Toronto Raptors.
- This was the second time this season the Cavs were held under 100 points. This happened just once last regular season.
- The Cavs went 10-42 (23.8%) from beyond the arc. This was the fifth time they converted less than 30% of their threes, and the third time they’ve completed 25% or less. By contrast, they’ve only shot 40% or better from deep six times. Last season, the Cavs shot under 30% from three 10 times and 25% or under on three occasions.
- The Cavs are now 1-4 when they shoot under 30% from three and 0-3 when they shoot 25% or worse. It’s a make-or-miss league. The Cavs simply aren’t shooting well enough to be consistent. They’re taking the most three-point attempts of any team in the league, but are 24th in three-point percentage (34.3%).
- The offense wasn’t able to make up for it by converting at the rim as they went 13-35 in the restricted area and drew just two shooting fouls on those attempts. Their 42.9% shooting at the rim was in the first percentile for NBA games this season. This wasn’t for a lack of effort, as 35% of their shot attempts came in the restricted area (64th percentile).
- Donovan Mitchell only got one of his six attempts at the rim to go. He went just 4-9 on shots inside the arc and had no free-throw attempts. His inability to convert inside or get to the line heavily contributed to the poor offense.
- The Cavs as a team took just 12 free throws. This is the lowest amount they’ve taken in a game all season.
- The Cavaliers had 21 more shot attempts than the Warriors. Head coach Kenny Atkinson has often talked about wanting to win the possession battle. They did so handily on Saturday, yet it didn’t matter.
- Cleveland’s 24 offensive rebounds were their third-most this season. This didn’t help much since the Cavs shot 9-25 (36%) on second-chance field-goal attempts. Nae’Qwan Tomlin accounted for six offensive rebounds.
- The offense turned it over just 12 times. This was Clevland’s sixth-fewest in a game this season.
- The Cavaliers’ eight fast-break points were their third-lowest on the season. They registered a 58.8 offensive rating on transition possessions (2nd percentile). Cleveland was able to get out and run often, as 20.8% of their possessions were in the open court (88th percentile). This is one of the most efficient ways to score, but it wasn’t on Saturday.
- The Cavs held the Warriors to just 1-17 (5.9%) shooting on shots between 4 and 14 feet. This is a comically low percentage. Golden State’s offense also struggled mightily on Saturday, but they at least had the excuse of being without their top two scorers.
- Golden State went 1-11 (9.1%) on corner threes. The Cavs were in this game late because the Warriors’ offense was also awful. Golden State finished with a 104.2 offensive rating (16th percentile).
- Darius Garland continues to struggle as he went 6-15 from the floor and 1-6 from deep. He scored 17 points on Saturday. He’s only scored over 20 points once in the nine games he’s played this season. Garland is yet to shoot above 45% from the field in a game. He is now shooting 35.3% from the floor and 32.1% from three on the season.
