At the start of the playoffs, the Cavaliers were one of four franchises tied for most three-pointers in a single quarter. After this past Wednesday evening’s match against the Heat, they now own this record for themselves, having reached the highest mark with 11 made shots from beyond the arc.
This feat occurred during the second quarter of their Eastern Conference first-round clash vs. Miami, as the Ohio team dropped in 11 of 16 from beyond the three-point line, in a period where they jumped to a 68-51 lead at halftime. Cleveland ended up winning 121-112 for a 2-0 lead in the series.
“We’ve had a lot of moments like that this year because we have highly skilled players that can shoot. Everybody was shooting it,” said coach Kenny Atkinson. “It was beautiful to watch. We’ve got good passers, good connectors. There’s spacing and running and dirty work involved and then the skill work takes over.”
Max Strus led the charge with three shots made from range, while teammates De’Andre Hunter, Sam Merrill and Donovan Mitchell had two each, with this last one earning five assists all on three-pointers. “It worked exactly in my head how I thought it was gonna go,” the All-Star shared after scoring 30 points.
Donovan then added: “When you envision what you take from Game 1 to Game 2, I thought, yeah, if I get to the paint, guys are gonna collapse. And then to see guys continually hit shots, I mean that’s just a special group. When you have versatility like that from the 3-point line, it really makes it tough on the guard. And that’s what you saw in the second quarter.”
As mentioned above, the Cavs were one of four teams who shared the previous record with 10 three-pointers made in a single postseason quarter. As Cleveland had reached this in 2016, Bucks, Suns and Jazz also hit 10 during playoff games in 2021.
“When that happens, you have to stay the course and become even more stubborn. There were four of them that we defended really well, but once it got to seven or eight, I think we got discouraged a little bit,” said Miami coach Erik Spoelstra, as their rivals finished 22 of 45 from beyond the arc.
