Taking a closer look at the importance of the midrange shot in the postseason.
Taking away or limiting what your opponent does best is one of the main goals in the playoffs. The best teams have multiple counters or are so good at one thing — like the Boston Celtics with their three-point shot — that you can’t take away what they want to do. You can only limit it.
We don’t entirely know how this version of the Cleveland Cavaliers will translate to the playoffs. But we do know that their offensive success will be primarily predicated on their guards. For them to be at their best, they may need to do something they haven’t consistently done all season: Attack in the midrange.
The Cavs’ offense is based on getting to the basket and creating three-point chances from their rim pressure. They’ve used the midrange shot as a counter and only when necessary. It’s why they were 24th in midrange attempt frequency this season.
That doesn’t mean they aren’t good at them. The Cavs have completed 48% of their midrange looks, which is the most efficient mark in the league. That is mostly due to the excellent play of Darius Garland, Ty Jerome, and Donovan Mitchell. Each can generate and connect on their midrange shots differently.
Being able to fall back on that will be incredibly useful in the postseason. Garland showed that last week in Cleveland’s comeback win over the New York Knicks.
This wasn’t a playoff environment, but the Knicks were trying to win, and the Cavs were without both Mitchell and Jerome. That meant that most of the playmaking and scoring load fell to Garland, who couldn’t find the range on his outside shot (0-4 from deep in the first three quarters). Garland was left to attack the defense in the one area where they were allowing him to do so.
The midrange shot isn’t the first option, but good defenses can take away what you want to do as the Knicks did at the start of the possession below. Garland ran a pick-and-roll with Jarrett Allen, but Mikal Bridges and Mitchell Robinson did an excellent job of defending it. Robinson deterred the lob to Allen and the drive to the basket while Bridges recovered and got back into the play.
The Cavs then reset. Garland dished it to Allen at the free-throw line and flowed into a dribble-hand-off. New York’s defenders had to stay with Cleveland’s outside shooters and Robinson chose to cut off the lob to Allen, which gave Garland a clean free-throw line jumper.
This is better than giving up a quality look at the rim or from deep if you’re the defense. But it’s also in a range that Garland is converting from over 50% of the time.
Jerome can also manipulate a defense like Garland, but he does so differently.
We often think of the midrange shot as being a jumper, but it can also be the in-between floater as well. This is where Jerome’s 100th percentile midrange shot comes into play (58%).
The Cavs’ bigs put a lot of pressure on the rim. If you’re going to stay home on the other three shooters when Cleveland runs a pick-and-roll, you’ll have to give up something if you’re trying to guard against a pull-up three. We see that in the clip below.
Payton Pritchard kept Jerome from taking an off-the-dribble three while Luke Kornet cut off the drive to the basket. Boston’s other defenders stayed home, which left Jerome with only one option. He got Pritchard on his back hip and went into an uncontested floater.
This one shot has helped lead his incredible resurgence this season.
Mitchell plays with force in every area of his game. It’s no surprise that how he generates his midrange looks is also forceful and nothing like how Garland or Jerome get to theirs.
One of Mitchell’s biggest improvements this season came in the short midrange. He completed those looks 49% of the time this season (85th percentile) compared to just 39% (42nd percentile) the prior year. That is largely due to his floater.
Mitchell has finished 53% of his floaters this season. His ability to get downhill, force the defense onto their back foot, and rise for a look in the paint is how he generates most of them. These aren’t the typical midrange shots that you think of, but it’s difficult to provide help defense on them like you would on a shot at the rim.
The defenders who give Mitchell the most problems are the ones that he can’t physically overpower with his strength or explosiveness. There aren’t many guards in the league who can do that, but someone like Lu Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder is an example of one who can.
In those situations, Mitchell’s midrange jumper isn’t much of a tool to counter what the defense gives him. It’s more so a last resort to get his offense going when nothing else is working. That will be something to keep an eye on for Mitchell throughout the postseason.
Cleveland’s offensive success will be predicated on whether or not the three-ball is falling. We’ve seen that all season. It’s no surprise that the Cavs’ late-season struggles coincided with an extended cold streak from three. That doesn’t mean there isn’t value in the midrange as well.
Every team needs counters and off-speed pitches they can readily go to for points, especially when the game slows down as much as it does in the postseason. The midrange shot isn’t what the Cavs will live and die with in the playoffs, but it is something their three guards have shown all season that they can get to if needed.