Sam Merrill’s Shooting Surge Isn’t Just a Hot Hand - It’s a Blueprint for the Cavs’ Ceiling
In the NBA, motivation can come from just about anywhere. A heckling fan.
A heated rivalry. Even your own team’s social media account.
Before the Cavaliers’ 138-113 blowout win over Washington at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the team’s social team posted its usual “keys to the game.” One bullet point stood out: “Get Sam cooking again.”
Well, consider the kitchen officially on fire.
Sam Merrill, the sharpshooter who’s carved out a real role in Cleveland’s rotation, had been in a bit of a lull - just three made threes over his previous two games and an 0-for-5 night from deep against Sacramento still fresh in the rearview. But Merrill didn’t take the post personally - at least, not outwardly.
“I was like, I had a bad game against Sacramento, but I made a couple against Denver. It was overall a pretty good road trip,” Merrill said, flashing the kind of calm confidence that’s become part of his DNA.
“But for me, it’s never - I don’t ever go into a game thinking, man, I gotta make so many 3s. I just try to play good basketball, be aggressive, play with confidence.”
Confidence, meet ignition.
Merrill didn’t just bounce back. He detonated.
In just over 13 first-half minutes, he went a perfect 9-for-9 from the field - including a scorching 7-for-7 from deep. Every shot looked like it was pulled from the same highlight reel: clean footwork, quick release, net barely moving.
“I guess he took it personally tonight,” Donovan Mitchell joked postgame. “To see a performance like that - that’s incredible.
It’s very rare to see him go 0-for-5 or 0-for-6. I knew he was going to explode at some point, but I didn’t think it’d be that.”
The moment that sent Rocket Mortgage into a frenzy came late in the second quarter. After a long rebound off a missed Wizards three, Merrill sprinted out in transition.
Mitchell tried to hit him with a lead pass, but it was too far out front. Merrill corralled it, flipped it back to James Harden, and relocated to the corner.
Harden found him again. Kyshawn George contested.
Didn’t matter.
Splash. Timeout?
Nope. Just chaos.
The bench erupted. Dennis Schröder ran halfway onto the court.
Thomas Bryant was flailing his towel like he was trying to flag down a plane. Nae’Qwan Tomlin froze, mouth wide open.
Larry Nance Jr., Craig Porter Jr., and Tristan Enaruna couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Even the officials got caught in the moment, briefly stopping play under the assumption Washington had called timeout.
They hadn’t.
“I don’t actually know what happened there,” Merrill said with a smile. “But that was fun... those are fun moments.”
Harden, who’s seen just about everything in his 14-year career, was just as caught up in it.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “But just seeing [Merrill] work every single day - like, he’s a sniper. So when somebody has it going like that, I was just trying to get him the ball.”
By the end of the night, Merrill had poured in a career-high 32 points and hit nine threes - tying his own franchise record for most games with nine or more triples. Only Kyrie Irving (11), C.J. Miles (10), and Darius Garland (10) have ever made more in a single game for the Cavs.
But performances like this don’t come out of nowhere. They’re born in empty gyms, in the quiet hours, in the reps no one sees.
“I tell myself, if you’re not gonna get mad when you’re 0-for-4, then you can’t get too high either,” Merrill said. “We always talk about ‘never too high, never too low,’ but we only focus on one side of that.”
That mindset is part of what makes Merrill so steady. Some shooters talk about the rim looking like an ocean when they’re hot.
For Merrill, it’s more about mechanics - the angle of the arm, the balance in his feet, the rhythm of the release. When it’s all in sync, it doesn’t matter who’s closing out or how tight the contest is.
He’s just looking for a sliver of space to see the rim.
“There were one or two [shots] toward the end of the first half where I had a flyby, one dribble left, and I think it was [Bub] Carrington guarding me,” Merrill said. “It was still somewhat contested, but I felt so good that it was like he wasn’t even there.”
What’s becoming clear is that Merrill’s value to this Cavs team goes far beyond spot-up shooting. His off-ball movement bends defenses.
His handle is sharper. His reads are more patient.
He’s learning when to attack closeouts, when to escape dribble into space, and when to keep the ball moving. And his presence alone shifts the geometry of the floor.
That kind of gravity is gold in the playoffs, when defenses load up on stars and every possession is a chess match. A shooter who can punish overhelp and make quick reads? That’s the kind of player who can swing a series.
“We got somebody that can go out there and score 30, and we don’t have to do nothing,” Harden said. “In the postseason, you’re going to need other players to step up. The main guys are going to get the attention, but guys like Sam and [Jaylon Tyson] - when they can make shots and put pressure on the defense, I don’t know how you stop that.”
It’s easy to forget Merrill already has a championship ring - he was part of the 2021 Bucks team that won it all, though he played sparingly. This time around, if the Cavs are going to make a serious run past the Eastern Conference semifinals, Merrill won’t just be along for the ride.
He’ll be part of the engine.