What Cavs' Season-High 19 Threes Can Mean For Their Offense

Despite a 120-113 loss to the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers knocked down a season-high 19 threes on 45 attempts from deep.

It is fitting that the first basket of the Cleveland Cavaliers' matchup with the Boston Celtics came via three-pointer because they were locked in shooting the basketball.

Tuesday night, the Cavs both recorded their season-high in three point makes (19) and attempts (45) as a team. Donovan Mitchell and Max Strus drilled five apiece, Darius Garland knocked down four and Dean Wade cashed in on two, as the wine-and-gold took advantage of drive-and-kick situations that generated great looks.

I think it was a product of how the game went, and our guys understanding that on our penetration they were gonna come to the paint and kick-outs were gonna be available," Cleveland head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after the game. 

"I thought our guys did a great job, as they do, of just sharing the ball and creating open opportunities. It wasn't a bunch of create-my-own. It was a lot of in-flow kick-outs and selfless plays from teammates."

Dec 12, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) shoots against Boston Celtics guard Derrick White (9) in the second quarter at TD Garden / David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

It was a far cry from the frigid night Cleveland had against the Orlando Magic the night beforehand, which is a telling tale of how shot variance truly works. 

"I think that's something we've got to do," Strus said. "We've got a lot of good shooters on our team, and if we can keep creating opportunities for us to take and make open threes, it's just gonna make us that much more lethal to guard and open up a lot of things for our guards to get downhill."

"[The Celtics] were helping at the rim, but I think DG and Don did a great job of getting into the lane and making kick-out passes," LeVert added. "I think we watched a lot of those clips this morning in shootaround of last game of ways that we can get our teammates shots, and I think the carryover from the film to the game was great, especially on those two."

When the Cavs get momentum going toward the bucket, it keeps the opposition in scramble mode. If the last two nights are any indication, we'll likely be seeing the same diet of triples from Cleveland moving forward.