Cavaliers VS Heat Game 3 and Cavs DPOY

Beware the devastating Cavalanche!

BY ADISON DELP

Evan Mobley DPOY

First things first, congrats to Evan Mobley on a well-deserved Defensive Player of the Year

award. Let’s look at some of the stats that led to him being the first Cavalier ever to win this

award.

Mobley averaged 1.6 blocks per game which is 6 th best in the NBA. He also was the only player in the league to average over 1.5 blocks per game while committing less than 2 fouls per game. On top of that, his 9 rebounds per game are one of the highest in the league. But his stats are not as big of an indicator as the eye test. While Mobley didn't lead the NBA in blocks, the amount of shots he contested and altered caused something I have dubbed the Wembanyama effect, of course named after Victor Wembanyama.

So many times during a Cavs game an opponent will dribble into the paint or even the restricted area, see Mobley, and either kick it out to a teammate or dribble back out of the paint. While the Wembanyama effect does not show up on the stat sheet, it protects the paint and can also be demoralizing to an opponent. For example, in game 3 against the Miami Heat, the Cavaliers scored 60 points in the paint, while Miami had only 30. Much of that has to do with Mobley’s presence alone. Speaking of the game, let’s look at the dominant performance from the whole Cavs roster in game 3.

Cavs vs Heat Game 3

If game 3 was the only game you had watched in the series, you'd likely assume the whole series has been blowout after blowout. Game 1 was won by 21 points, however, each of the first two games of the series felt close and very back and forth.

After Miami jumped on the Cavs right out of the gate and gained an early 9-point lead for the

second game in a row, Cleveland turned it on and never looked back. The Cavs scored 18

straight points and ended the quarter on a 27-5 run.

The game was never close again after that with a final score of 124-87. But how was this game different? How did the Cavs hand Miami their worst playoff loss in franchise history without All-Star PG Darius Garland, who was out with a re-aggravated toe injury?

1. Bench Performance

The Cavaliers bench has been one of the best all year, averaging 39.7 PPG as a unit this season. We had two contenders for NBA 6th Man of the Year in DeAndre Hunter and Ty Jerome, who ended up being a finalist.

During the playoffs though, it had not been as good as expected. Neither previous game in this series saw the Cavs have 35 points or more off the bench, even when Ty Jerome scored 28 in game 1. The bench had overall underperformed and thus allowed Miami to stay in the games by taking advantage of the minutes without Garland or Mitchell.

Game 3 flipped the script on the bench. Cleveland scored 52 bench points, including 21 from Hunter, who was the second leading scorer for the Cavs and Jerome added 13 and had a team-high 11 assists.

2. Paint Dominance

Like I previously mentioned, Cleveland doubled Miami’s paint points in game 3, and much of

that has to do with Mobley’s dominating presence. He had some help, however with

Jarrett Allen leading the Cavs in scoring with 22 points, including 5 dunks. All of his slams came in the first half, really setting the tone for dominating the paint. Add Jarrett's 10 rebounds and it really was obvious that Miami couldn’t deal with him on this day.

Mobley joined Allen with 19 points, including 4 dunks, and 6 rebounds. They both realized that outside of Bam Adebayo, the only real big that Miami has is rookie Kel’el Ware. Mobley and Allen used their size advantage to command the paint and create countless high percentage shot opportunities that Miami simply couldn’t defend. This is a formula they could stick to in game 4.

3. Limiting Herro

After getting burnt by Tyler Herro for 33 points in game 2, the Cavs learned their lesson. The

defense on him was so good that Herro only attempted 13 shots and scored a series-low 13 points in game 3 on 5 less attempts than he had in game 1 and 11 less than he had in game 2.

Cleveland basically forced Miami to score with players other than Herro, and simply didn’t have enough firepower to do it. Yes, Adebayo and Davion Mitchell got open looks because of this strategy, but ultimately this plan paid off. They couldn’t generate enough scoring during Herro's off night, even without the usual services of their All-Star guards.

Darius Garland was out and Donovan Mitchell only scored 13 points but the Cavs still won while scoring 124 points. This again, is another beneficial strategy Cleveland should continue. Game 4 is Monday and after watching game 3, I think my prediction might be off. Get the brooms out because it’s time for a sweep!

Leading scorers:

Cavs:

Jarrett Allen: 22 points, 10 rebounds

DeAndre Hunter: 21 points, 4 rebounds

Heat:

Bam Adebayo: 22 points, 9 rebounds

Davion Mitchell: 16 points, 5 assists

Sources:

ESPN

StatMuse