For comparison, we haven’t had a season where seven … — and more

What Silver means by this is that, if you chart team win-loss records by season, you get an interesting phenomenon: a bulge of teams that win 40 to 50 games and a paucity of those who win 30 to 39. In the four seasons since 2021-22, we’ve had 44 of the former and only 23 of the latter, and the disparity looks set to be even worse this season. The Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls may be the only teams that end up in the 30s, while 10 or more teams land in the 40s. Meanwhile, in 2023-24, seven teams lost at least 55 games, and in 2021-22 and 2024-25, six did. For comparison, we haven’t had a season where seven teams won at least 55 games since 2010-11, and we’ve only had six twice in the 11 full seasons since.

New York Times

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: For comparison, we haven’t had a season where seven …

The Cleveland Cavaliers did enough to outscore the Charlotte Hornets 118-113 to win their seventh game in a row.

The stats in the table below are taken from Cleaning the Glass.

Now, let’s dive into the numbers.

• Both the Cavs (129.7 offensive rating) and the Hornets (125.6 offensive rating) finished with single-game offensive ratings that were in the 80th percentile or above. How both teams got there was very different. Charlotte did this by controlling the offensive glass and generating second-chance points. Cleveland did so by shooting great from the field and by getting to the free-throw line repeatedly.
• Charlotte registered 37 second-chance points. They did so by grabbing 23 offensive rebounds, many of which were due to not being able to track down long rebounds from missed threes. Additionally, being without Evan Mobley made this problem worse. Still, it’s frustrating when the Cavs are beaten this handily on the offensive glass.
• The Cavs registered 18 second-chance points of their own. This would be a solid output on most days. For example, the team that leads in second-chance points per game — the Portland Trail Blazers — does so with 18.5 per contest. Even though this is much lower than Charlotte’s 37, being able to get these helped soften the blow. Jarrett Allen grabbed seven of Cleveland’s 10 offensive rebounds.
• Cleveland is now 18-2 when Allen scores more than 15 points and 10-0 when he scores 20 or more. Allen put up 26 points on an efficient 11-15 shooting. He was arguably the team’s best player again — which has become a common occurrence over the past three or so weeks.
• The Cavs took 42% of their shots at the rim (90th percentile). This has been a recent trend. They’ve registered over 40% of their shots in the restricted area during their last three games. Allen’s good play, and how the offense has shifted after adding James Harden to the mix, play a large role in that.
• The Hornets converted just 43.5% of their shots in the restricted area (1st percentile). The Cavs didn’t necessarily do a great job of defending the three-point line. They struggled with their rotations out to shooters, especially in some of the Hornets’ guard-to-guard screens, but they made up for it by controlling the paint. The easiest way to have a good defense is by defending the rim. The Cavs did that at a high level. Getting to the basket is still the most efficient way to score.
• The Cavs took their fewest three-pointers of a game this season (21) despite shooting 47.6% from deep (92nd percentile). The offense did a great job of generating clean outside shots while getting the ball inside when those looks weren’t there. They’ve come a long way from the side-to-side action that led to the contested, standstill threes that we saw at the beginning of the season.
• Cleveland posted a 109 half-court offensive rating (81st percentile). Having two dynamic guards in Donovan Mitchell and Harden, who are this effective in the pick-and-roll, will lead to an elite half-court offense. There’s a reason why they’ve been so good in this area in the five games Harden has been with the team.
• The Cavs are now 21-8 when Mitchell scores 30 or more points and 18-4 when he scores 32 or more. These numbers don’t correlate to winning as Allen’s scoring numbers do, but generally speaking, this team has typically won when Mitchell is scoring at a high level. That happened again here as he poured in 32 points in the victory.
• Keon Ellis led the team in plus/minus by being a +19. He’s played six games with the Cavs and was a +17 or better in three of those games. So far, the Cavs have played some of their best basketball with him on the floor. The defensive energy he brings fits in well with this group.
• The Cavs registered a 143.5 offensive rating with Harden on the court. That was the second-best number for any player on the team behind only Allen (147.4). Coming into this game, the Cavs had an outrageous 129.4 offensive rating when Harden is playing (100th percentile). Simply put, the offense has been unbelievably good with Harden through five games.

Bennett Durando: "I know there's financial things to it. That's not my department. But emotionally, I just know what this place is and what it means to have a professional basketball team here. It's not just something to go hang out at. It's something to go be a part of."

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This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: But emotionally, I just know what this place is and …