The Cleveland Cavaliers have come out flat in life after the All-Star break, dropping two in a row to the Orlando Magic and the Philadelphia 76ers. Granted, time away from the game will give any team rust, the Cavs included. But, in these two losses, Donovan Mitchell has been unavailable due to a non-COVID-related illness and, in turn, Cleveland hasn't quite been the same.
Simply put, the Cavs haven't attempted three-pointers at the volume they were before the All-Star break. In their 116-109 loss to Orlando on Thursday, Cleveland only took 22 shots from beyond the arc, the second-lowest amount of three-pointers they've attempted all season long. In their 104-97 loss to the 76ers a day later, the Cavs took 27 three-pointers. That's an increase in volume from the loss to the Magic, but it's still tied for the fourth-fewest triples they've taken in 2023-24.
Again, the lack of three-point volume can be attributed to Mitchell, who takes 9.1 three-point attempts per game this year. But Cleveland cannot afford to let their strong, newfound offensive identity fall by the wayside when Mitchell is unavailable.
Cavs must sustain newfound offensive identity—with and without Donovan Mitchell
Sure, Mitchell has been at the center of it all, taking advantage of additional spacing and creating it with his offensive gravity. But the offensive concept doesn't live and die with Mitchell's availability on the court—especially with the personnel the Cavs possess. There's still Darius Garland, Max Strus, Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, Dean Wade, Sam Merrill and even Evan Mobley to mitigate the loss of Mitchell's shooting whenever the superstar guard is unavailable.
But for whatever reason, Cleveland is falling back into the old pitfalls that made things so turbulent to start this season. While it's an incredibly limited two-game sample size, the Cavs have become reliant on heavy pick-and-roll usage, attacks at the basket and pull-up jumpers from inside the arc. While the first two are great indicators of modern basketball, leading to easy buckets or trips to the free throw line, the pull-up jumpers are something Cleveland wants to avoid as often as they can.
Instead, the Cavs need to replace those two-point attempts for three-point attempts. Clearly, with the personnel they have available most nights, they can do that even if Mitchell isn't available. With so simple a solution readily available, why isn't Cleveland making a concerted effort to implement it every time on offense? Well, like most things in life, it's complicated.
A lot of it goes back to the rust the Cavs are shaking off coming out of the All-Star break. It also doesn't help that Garland only just played his 10th game since returning from jaw surgery and is still trying to find his offensive rhythm on the floor. Hopefully once Garland and company shake off their collective rust, Cleveland's three-point volume will begin to increase whenever Mitchell isn't on the floor regardless of whether he's suited up.
If it doesn't, the Cavs could be in for a rude awakening come playoff time. The lack of a consistent three-point attack antiquates Cleveland's offense and if opposing defenses zero in on Mitchell, daring the Cavs to beat them with somebody else, it could make things a lot harder than they need to be.
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