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This Cavaliers' Brutal Statistic Led to Early Playoff Exit
May 13, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Max Strus (1) shoots over the defense of Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) during the first quarter of game five of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

This Cavaliers' Brutal Statistic Led to Early Playoff Exit

Originally posted on Cleveland Cavaliers on SI
By Anthony Moeglin  |  Last updated May 14, 2025 6:00 PM ET

In 86 games, the Cleveland Cavaliers never made fewer than 10 threes in a game. Over the last five against the Indiana Pacers, it happened twice. 

Cleveland was abruptly escorted into the offseason after the Pacers thoroughly dominated them in five games, and a big reason was that the Cavaliers' shooting totally left them. In all five games combined, the Cavs were 57-for-187, good for a measly 30 percent.

Everyone thought Game 1’s shooting performance was an anomaly, where Cleveland shot 29 percent, but they would go on to have three other nights that were just as bad or even worse than that.

  • Game 1: 9/31 = 29%
  • Game 2: 11/39 = 28%
  • Game 3: 14/47 = 29%
  • Game 4: 14/35 = 40%
  • Game 5: 9/35 = 25%
  • Total: 57/187 = 30% 

The benchmark for a “good” shooting night is between 37 and 40 percent, and clearly, Cleveland was nowhere close to that. 

It would be unfair to say that this shooting slump was the Cavs just getting unlucky. The reality is that this was the result of the Pacers having an amazing plan for the series and running Cleveland into the ground. Indiana came out every night for 48 straight minutes and picked the Cavs guards up from full court. 

At no point did the Cavs have anything easy and the result was Cleveland “running out of gas” towards the end of all of these games.

Had the Cavs not had two Donovan Mitchell masterpieces, there is a real world where this series could have ended in a sweep. The disheartening part for Cleveland is that they can point to the shooting woes as the reason for this series going the way it did, but the truth is they got out-played by Indiana.

There are so many questions about this team heading into the offseason. This is the third straight year that the Cavs were prematurely bounced from the playoffs. At some point, something has to change, and this offseason feels like the time to try and shake things up.

Read More Cavs News Here


This article first appeared on Cleveland Cavaliers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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