MVN: Most Valuable Network

As was evidenced in their recently-snapped eight game winning streak, the Cavaliers finally have a potent offense to match their potent defense this season.

One of the things I was skeptical about at the start of the season was the proposed commitment to a higher tempo game from the Cavaliers. One would think that if a team pushes the ball more on offense, it can only lead to more opportunities for their opponents to score, thus hurting the defense.

In one of Cleveland's early games, an announcer commented that every team says that they are going to run more this season, but after a while every team falls back into their own identity. In accordance with the conventional wisdom, the defensive-minded Cavaliers seem to have followed that trend, now 12 games into the season.

From what I have seen so far, it appears that the tempo advantage for the Cavs is not found in running more, but simply running better.

The addition of Mo Williams has allowed the Cavs to be more effective in the open court by allowing LeBron to run free off of the ball and finish more in transition. Much of these observations can be explained by some of the statistics brought up earlier. With regard to pace factor, the Cavaliers rank 25th in the league with 89.3 possessions per 48 minutes. That is slightly down from last season where they had a pace factor of 90.2.

The more interesting stat is their offensive rating in the 2008-09 campaign through the winning streak. Last year, the Cavs finished the season ranked 20th with 106 points per 100 possessions. This season, however, is a vastly different story as the Cavs - get this - lead the league in offensive rating with an astonishing 113.8 points per 100 possessions. The impact of a full complement plus the addition of Mo Williams has done exactly what was expected and really bolstered this team's offense.

When taking a closer look at the team's offense the conventional wisdom, you could say that the improved shooters have primarily led the Cavaliers' offensive surge. With sharp shooters like Williams, West, Gibson, and Szczerbiak, the Cavaliers surely have their best three-point lineup in the LeBron James era. However, when looking at the percentages, this team is shooting worse than it did during the last two seasons.

At 35 percent, the Cavaliers are not exactly lighting it up from the three-point line. In fact, that percentage puts them at 17th in the NBA. As with everything else referenced to in this article, this is still a young season. But it is definitely a point of interest that a supposed strength of the Cavaliers is, at this point, somewhat of a weakness.

One possible explanation is a propensity for quick or even bad 3's from more confident shooters. In any event, it is an interesting statistic for all of those praising the Cavs new-found three point shooting "prowess".

The real improvement is with regard to the general field goal percentage and the Cavs free throw shooting. Cleveland is off to a torrent start, at least by their standards, from the free throw line. Led by their star LBJ, the Cavaliers are shooting 77.9% from the line, up 6% from last season. As far as field goal percentage is concerned, the Cavs are shooting a hot 47.6%, up a big 4% from last season.

This leaves us to the question of how the defense matches up with both the league and past Cavalier teams.

Last season, the Cavaliers ranked 11th in defensive rating, allowing 106.4 points per 100 possessions. As usual, come playoff time the Cavs were able to lock down on the defensive end and used that to propel them to a game seven against the Celtics. This season, the Cavaliers have managed to give up only 104.9 points per 100 possessions.

In other words, if anything has changed defensively, it's that the Cavs have gotten even better.

The last three games before the loss at Detroit summarize it exactly. When the Cavs needed to step up on the defensive end late in the games against the Nuggets, the Jazz, and the Nets, that is exactly what they did. This is even more reason to be excited about the potential for this years Cavaliers as they now not only can dominate defensively at will, but they can also score it at will.

It appears as if the improved efficiency across the board is key to the Cavaliers increased offensive production from last season. It will be quite interesting to see if Mike Brown is able to get these guys to play his defense alongside their new found offense for 48 minutes. Especially if the shooters begin to knock down their 3's, this team has the potential to remain very dangerous even when they continue to play the better teams in the league.

However, it is certainly very early, and the Cavs have much room for improvement - mainly with the consistency of their new-found offense. This was evidenced throughout the streak and in Wednesday's game against the Pistons. Even so, it is clear that the offense is much improved from a year ago and the rest of the team is certainly no worse for the wear.

The loss to Detroit marked the Cavaliers first opportunity to take the next step this season and win a tough game on the road against a division rival. Instead, Cleveland was given a dose of their own medicine as the Pistons were able to shut the Cavaliers down in the second half, holding them to just 40 points. The Cavs defense was also absent from the second half, allowing the Pistons to rack up 58 points after the break. It seemed as if the Cavaliers were satisfied with the first half and reverted back to their 2007 form, i.e. standing around on offense and watching LeBron and now Mo Williams try to carry the team.

Even with the loss to the Pistons, the Cavaliers still have to be quite pleased with the way this season has started. But they have yet to beat a true contender, with most of their wins coming against lottery teams from a year ago. This is a strong criticism against this team, but the fact of the matter is that the Cavaliers are beating the teams they are supposed to beat. This is important because it is something that they haven't always been the best at. It appears as if the regular season means something to these guys this year, and it clearly shows.

Look for the Cavs to start another winning streak as they travel back home to face the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. After Saturday, the Cavs have a streak of seven games against non-playoff teams from a year ago, four of which are at home. This has all of the makings of another productive stretch of eight games for the Cavaliers.

After the first week of December they could conceivably be sitting pretty with 15 or more wins, a mark they didn't pass last season until after the first of the new year.