Cleveland Cavaliers Still Haven’t Reached Their Ceiling on Offense

The Cleveland Cavaliers are back in the NBA Finals. This time, they’re fully healthy and propelled by their suddenly dynamic offense.

What’s really scary? For as good as their onslaught has been during these playoffs, the Cavs possess the potential for growth.

Whether they end up facing the Golden State Warriors or Oklahoma City Thunder for the franchise’s first-ever title, Cleveland must maximize its best qualities, while improving and rediscovering some previously effective methods.

A Mixed Offensive Identity

The Cavaliers are registering an offensive rating of 116.2 this postseason, tops among all NBA teams. Dominant performances from within the paint and outside the three-point line prove they can bury you in a variety of ways.

Cavs post best Off. Rating in NBA through first 3 rounds of playoffs since ’96-97 MORE: https://t.co/Kusu0tLpT5 pic.twitter.com/oDtQODIgHT

— NBA.com (@NBAcom) May 28, 2016

There’s no true blueprint for what they do offensively, either.

They don’t fly up and down the court or shoot three-pointers at a Golden State Warriors level (at least not yet). Cleveland also doesn’t consciously slow the pace down and try to work for buckets in the half court.

Despite leading all playoff teams in three-point makes (14.4), attempts (33.2) and percentage (43.4), the Cavaliers have set out to consistently sustain their spectacular outside shooting. Following a whopping 19.3 made three-pointers on 50.7 percent shooting against the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Cleveland fell back to earth with 11.3 outside makes on 38.9 percent against the Toronto Raptors.

“As I keep telling you guys every single day, we’re not a jump-shooting team,” LeBron James said following Game 1 against Toronto. “You guys kept looking at me crazy about it. We’re not a jump-shooting team. We’re a balanced team, and whatever the game dictates, we adjust to that.”

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Despite his claim, the numbers say Cleveland has been anything but balanced this postseason. While they lead the NBA in nearly every three-point category, the Cavs are scoring just 32.7 percent of their points in the paint—a figure that would have ranked dead last during the regular season.

For a team that features a strong post presence like Kevin Love, combined with the …

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