CLEVELAND — If there is anyone qualified to speak on what the Cleveland Cavaliers are doing to the rest of the league this season, it’s Steve Kerr and Draymond Green.
The Golden State Warriors started winning championships after Kerr inherited a really good roster and made it great. The frenetic pace, the extra pass, the relentless onslaught of 3-pointers; the luxury of multiple playmakers who can dribble, pass and shoot; the nightly chokehold defensively…
If there was a group of pioneers who forged a new way to play in this pace-and-space era, it was Kerr and the Warriors driving the wagons and settling the land.
Now, it’s the Cavaliers and their new coach putting the rest of the NBA on notice similar to how the Warriors did it a decade ago.
Cleveland tied a franchise record with 83 points in the first half Friday and set a team record with a 41-point halftime lead in what became a 136-117 victory.
The Cavs aren’t just beating teams this season; they’re destroying them. They’re the only team shooting better than 50 percent overall and lead the league in 3-point percentage. They’re second in made 3s, have the second-best point differential and at 10-0 and remain the last unbeaten with the league’s best start to a season since these Warriors went 24-0 to begin 2015-16. And they’re doing it with two defensive giants in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
At some point, it isn’t just a hot start or good shooting. There comes a time when a streak transitions from a fluke to the fabric of the franchise. That’s where the Cavaliers are today.
“I feel like they just beat us with what we’ve beaten teams with for years,” Green said. “Just the ball movement, guys flying around. They’re so intentional about the extra pass. That’s a staple for us. The drive, kick, swing is what we’ve preached for years, and they diced us up with it.”
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It’s high praise coming from someone who won four championships playing this way, from someone who recognizes how Kenny Atkinson is deploying Mobley exactly how Green has played in the Warriors’ system for years.
That experience with Green and the Warriors is part of what made Atkinson so appealing for the job in Cleveland.
Mobley plays from the pocket now similar to how Green does with the Warriors. He is a hub on offense, with one huge difference.
“He’s 7 feet,” Green said.
Mobley’s length on the wing adds a dimension to the Cavs that not even Green and the Warriors enjoyed during their dynasty. Mobley’s evolution into a wing is solving the issue of playing him alongside Jarrett Allen as two non-shooting bigs clogging the floor.
Atkinson’s arrival has helped transform Mobley, which in turn has evolved the Cavs from a plucky playoff contender to a menacing championship force.
“Clearly one of the best teams in the league,” Kerr said.
The entire roster is back from last year. The only real change was to Atkinson and the coaching staff.
It’s easy to draw the comparison between what Kerr did for the Warriors when he arrived in 2014 and how Atkinson has transformed the Cavaliers this season after spending three years as an assistant on Kerr’s staff.
“This was a great job to get, just like mine was 10 years ago,” Kerr said. “Now, you’re just tweaking things and seeing where you can get better on the margins rather than trying to grow something organically. It’s a perfect spot, and Kenny has taken advantage.”
Kerr’s greatness extends beyond past his players. He made Mike Brown a better coach for the Sacramento Kings because of his time immersed in the Warriors’ culture. Now, it seems to have had a similar effect on Atkinson in Cleveland during his second stint as a head coach.
Part of Kerr’s greatness is his ability to communicate with everyone on the roster, his deftness at handling stars and the ease with which he involves everyone on his coaching staff and makes the culture so inclusive.
“Steve has an incredible gift to understand the temperature of the team,” Atkinson said.
It’s no secret Atkinson struggled dealing with moody stars in Brooklyn, which is part of the reason he was fired despite overachieving with a Nets roster that wasn’t very good his first few years.
In Cleveland, he arrived with Donovan Mitchell’s blessing and a pre-existing relationship with guys like Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert from their days together with the Nets. The trust was instant, the results obvious.
He has installed more motion on offense to create better looks. The Cavs started setting screens near midcourt Friday to loosen the Warriors’ excellent defense and create easy lobs at the basket. The Cavs have shifted from a team heavily reliant on pick-and-rolls to a team that can damage opponents from all corners. They scored 136 points on a night Mitchell, their best player, shot 4 of 13 and scored only 12 points. The offense is so versatile they didn’t even need him.
“A lot easier to guard last year,” Green said. “A lot tougher to guard this year.”
Where all of this goes remains to be seen. Both the Cavs and Warriors look much different than the teams that staged four consecutive Finals series.
Green and Steph Curry still remain as the pillars of the Warriors, but the Cavs have been completely torn down and rebuilt since their last Finals appearance in 2018. They are young, athletic, excellent defensively, and they can now score with any team in the league.
Among all of the impressive milestones set with this start, the Cavaliers have already surpassed 130 points five times this season. It matches the franchise record.
They did it in 10 games.
(Top photo of Kenny Atkinson and Steph Curry: Jason Miller/Getty Images )
