Cleveland Cavaliers making three-pointers at a historic rate

The Cleveland Cavaliers have yet to lose in the playoffs. On Sunday, they completed a four-game sweep of the Atlanta Hawks. Altogether, it was an even more impressive performance than their first round sweep of the Detroit Pistons. In four games against Atlanta, the Cavaliers made 77 three-pointers, 19.3 per game, shooting 50.3 percent from behind the arc.

This was a trend that started in the last few weeks of the regular season and has carried through both of their first two playoff series.

Through eight games, the Cavaliers have already made 134 three-pointers, the 34th-most by any team in any single playoffs. And to reiterate, they’ve reached that point in eight games. At their current historic rate, they could break the record (240, set by the Golden State Warriors last season) in a little over six games. Which means they might not even need to make the Finals to get there.

For a sense of just how far ahead of the field they are in terms of the pace of their three-point makes in the playoffs, the graph below shows them and then ten other teams with the most single-season playoff threes made, graphed by the cumulative total per game.

The Cavaliers have been creating a ton of open looks within the flow of their offense and, from that perspective it would seem that their pace is sustainable. However, measuring the quality of their shot selection implies that the Cavaliers have been making far more three-pointers than we would expect. Given the nature of three-point shooting trends this year, expectations seem like they will be continually under revision.

The Cavaliers have probably done enough already that even a moderate drop-off in their prolific shooting would still give them a chance at breaking the record. Although, ironically, they may have to start losing some games to get there extending a series or two and giving themselves some extra opportunities.