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CLEVELAND
— The Cleveland Cavaliers ran over a bad Washington Wizards team 138-113 on Wednesday evening.
The stats in the table below are taken from Cleaning the Glass.
Now, let’s dive into the numbers.
- Sam Merrill scored a career-high 32 points. He was on fire from deep, going 9-10 from three. He also made both of his shots inside the arc. Merrill simply couldn’t miss, and there was nothing the Wizards could do to contain him.
- James Harden assisted on six of Merrill’s 11 field goals. He did a great job of finding Merrill whenever he could. We’ve seen how Harden can open up the game for guys like Jarrett Allen. Clearly, he can have that same kind of effect on an off-ball shooter like Merrill as well.
- The Cavs registered a 113.3 offensive rating in the half-court (88th percentile). This was the third game with Harden, and the third time the half-court offensive rating was over 109 — which is an elite number. This team has the skills to be absolutely lethal in the half-court, and they have been.
- Cleveland took 40% of their shots at the rim (86th percentile). Washington didn’t have the personnel inside to keep the Cavs from getting to the basket, and the Cavs took advantage. The restricted area is still, and always will be, the most efficient place to score from. There’s no reason to go away from your advantage once you create it.
- Jarrett Allen went 8-8 from the field to finish with 21 points. It seems like Allen has made every shot that he’s put up recently, which has led to his teammates calling him Wilt. In his last four games, Allen has gone 34-44 (77.3%) from the field. He’s playing some of the best basketball of his career right now.
- The Cavs are now 9-0 when Allen scores 20 or more points. Allen playing his best offensively has led to wins. Now, the question is figuring out how to get this version of Allen when Evan Mobley gets back into the equation.
- Harden took just four shot attempts in over 28 minutes. The last time he took four or fewer shots was in April 2024 during a game he played under 10 minutes. Harden isn’t too concerned about his lack of scoring. “I’m top 10 in scoring all-time. Scoring isn’t a problem for me.”
- The Cavs had their highest free-throw rate in a game this season. Harden is to thank for that with his 12 free throw attempts. This is an area he’s going to help immensely.
- Washington controlled the offensive glass, finishing with 28 second-chance points. Offensive rebounding has been an issue of late, and understandably so. Being without both Dean Wade and Mobley hurts in this department. Still, you’d like to see the Cavs do a better job on the glass. Fortunately for them, they gathered many of their misses as well and had 27 second-chance points of their own.
- The Cavs played at a 105.5 pace. Despite concerns that the offense would play slower with Harden, they’ve actually increased their pace. Over the past three games, Cleveland has been playing at a 102.3 pace. For context, their season-long average is 101.8. It’ll be interesting to monitor this as Harden continues to get implemented into Kenny Atkinson’s system.
- Donovan Mitchell has taken more shots since playing with Harden. He had 19 attempts on Wednesday and is averaging 22 in the three games he’s played with Harden. For reference, Mitchell is averaging 20.8 field-goal attempts per outing on the season. One of the concerns with adding Harden would be that he could take away some of Mitchell’s shots and keep him from doing what he does best. So far, that hasn’t been the case. He’s only made life easier for Mitchell.
- The Cavs have registered a 125.6 offensive rating with both Mitchell and Harden on the floor this season. Cleveland’s offense has been humming in the 54 minutes the duo has spent on the court together. This has led to a +10.9 net rating together.
