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'Honestly, I'm a bit surprised': Cavaliers have had the NBA's second-best offense
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- 'Honestly, I'm a bit surprised': Cavaliers have had the NBA's second-best offense
CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers are rolling — to a degree that has surprised even them.
They're a perfect 5-0 to begin the Kenny Atkinson era in Cleveland as Cavs coach. They've scored at least 110 points in all five games, and they've gone over 130 points three times. Four of those five wins have been by double digits.
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In other words, they've overpowered defenses at every turn thus far, though it's still a small sample size.
Atkinson was brought in to bring a more offensive mind to the Cavs roster . Even he's a bit surprised at just how well the offense has operated to open the season, and it's his own system he's implemented.
"Yeah, because I have so much respect for the parity in this league," Atkinson said after the Cavs' 134-110 beatdown of LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday night . "I look at every game on the schedule and it's just, 'How are we gonna beat them? How are we gonna beat them?' … So, yeah, honestly, I'm a bit surprised."
The Cavaliers entered Wednesday with the second-best offensive rating in the NBA at 123.14 , behind only the reigning champion Boston Celtics .
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The Cavs hoped this season would feature an offensive transformation with Atkinson. So far, it's been all systems go.
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Part of the offensive explosion has to be credited to the Cavs simply shooting lights out nearly every night thus far. It's something Atkinson knows won't be sustainable for long.
But in addition to the collective hot streak as shooters, this system has clearly suited the players well.
"There's also the development piece. We work a lot on it and we've been here since the end of July, guys have been in the gym," Atkinson said. "Now, the statisticians will tell you, no, you're shooting over expected [percentages] and that's it. You're going to eventually come down. So hopefully we don't come down, because it's pretty fun when that thing goes in."
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) drives to the basket against Los Angeles Lakers guard Max Christie (12) on Wednesday in Cleveland.
Donovan Mitchell , Jarrett Allen , Evan Mobley , Darius Garland lead Cavaliers offensive surge in 2024-25
The Cavs starting lineup seems it has more than just some nice shooting to start the season.
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"I think [it's the] movement," said Donovan Mitchell , who led the Cavs to a 42-point first quarter Wednesday night. "Being able to be selfless, getting to the corners. We joke about it, we'll probably joke about it all year, but that's huge because now defenses have to kind of search for what's going on. … For us, it's being unpredictable."
Jarrett Allen , especially, has thrived. Entering Wednesday, he was sixth in the NBA in Player Efficiency (29.2). His 159.2 Offensive Rating was the second-best among all players. And the league's leader in Win Shares Per 48 minutes ( measures how effective a player has been across a 48-minute average in contributing to wins )? Allen, at .361.
That was before his 20-point, 17-rebound performance in the win over the Lakers.
Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen (31) goes for a rebound against Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) on Wednesday in Cleveland.
Jarrett Allen leads NBA in Win Shares
Allen also owns perhaps the craziest stat in the NBA thus far this season — he has as many missed shots (nine) as blocks.
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"Yeah, I mean, when in doubt, [pass it to Jarrett Allen], right?" Mitchell said. "We talk about myself, we talk about DG, we talk about Ev, but for a guy like him, should've been an All-Star last year, to be as productive as he is, as quiet as he is, doesn't ask for much, that's hard to find in this league."
Allen gave much of the credit to the offense's early season success to Mobley's involvement.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) shoots over Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) on Wednesday in Cleveland.
Cavs running offense through Evan Mobley with success
The Cavs unlocking Mobley's potential was a major factor in their choice to hire Atkinson as the team's new coach. The offense has at times effectively been ran through Mobley, as they have long trusted him to make the right basketball play in addition to being able to use his versatility and athleticism to open things up.
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"Sharing the ball and having Evan up at the top, being the distributor, he's been doing an excellent job running our offense, basically," Allen said when asked what's working offensively aside from the shots falling. "We put a lot through him. It just gets everybody open."
The Cavs know they'll likely face some speed bumps at some point, but for now it's all working — perhaps even better than Atkinson envisioned.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Cavaliers offense surging under Kenny Atkinson in 2024-25
