Evan Mobley’s jumper is changing the conversation in Cleveland.
Not just because the shots are going in, either. It’s the way they’re arriving - quicker, cleaner, with a confidence the Cavaliers haven’t always been able to count on from their 7-footer. Wednesday night in a 121-111 comeback win over the Washington Wizards, Mobley opened with three straight 3s and kept rolling, finishing 5 of 6 from deep and giving Cleveland another glimpse of what happens when he becomes more than a paint-bound threat.
That start put him in a very small club. Across the Cavaliers’ play-by-play era, only James Jones and Daniel Gibson had ever begun a season by hitting 10 of their first 15 3-point attempts. Mobley reached that mark through the first four games, then pushed the number even higher with two more triples in the second half.
It was also the first time in his career he has made at least four 3s in back-to-back games.
“I feel like it’s sustainable,” Mobley said after Cleveland’s third straight win. “Just confidence.
The first few went in, so just kept shooting ‘em. Been working on them for years now.
I feel confident in it and I’m gonna keep shooting them.”
That’s a notable turn for a player who entered the league as a non-shooter. Mobley, the No. 3 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, lived almost entirely inside early in his career, and he made just 23 total 3s as a rookie. Even last season, his long-range numbers were modest: 29.7% on 3.2 attempts per game.
Now the early returns look dramatically different. Through this stretch, he’s 12 of 18 from 3-point range, a number that won’t stay that hot forever.
Regression is coming. But the mechanics look better, too, with a smoother, quicker release and less of the hitch that used to show up at the top and lead to ugly misses.
The Cavaliers are already seeing the payoff in real time. Against the Wizards, Mobley’s shooting helped pull defenders away from the basket, and Jarrett Allen said that changes everything for Cleveland’s front line.
“He’s just putting it all together,” Allen said of his frontcourt mate. “It opens the floor up to me. There’s not a lot of people in there, so I can do my work in there.”
Mobley’s attempts have reflected how defenses are treating him: entering Wednesday, every 3 he’d taken this season had come with the closest defender at least 4 feet away, classified as open or wide open. Sixteen of his 18 attempts have come above the break, almost all of them zero-dribble looks, and every one has been assisted. Most have come off pick-and-pop actions with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, a setup that forces defenses into a tough choice.
“It’s tough,” Mobley said. “It’s going to stretch the defense out a little more and make it harder on defenders when they’re guarding me.”
That spacing showed up in another way Wednesday. Once Wizards defenders started closing harder in the second half, Mobley had room to put the ball on the floor and get to the rim.
“Now I’ve got to work on that and what I’m going to do out of that,” he explained. “But I think that definitely benefits my game -getting downhill and getting to the rim.”
Kenny Atkinson said he saw the shift coming.
“I felt it in preseason, leading up to preseason. There’s a shift in his demeanor.
I think he wants to play better than he did last year or start the season off better than he did last year,” Atkinson said. “He put in the work.
There’s a confidence to him now. It’s raised.
Playing with James too, James has a way of finding guys.
“I think last year he’d kind of make 3s with time and space. I feel like this year he’s getting it off quicker.
He’s making them with harder contests. It changes the game for us if he makes 3s.
We saw it last year in the playoffs too, right? Detroit series, hit some big ones.
Toronto series, hit some big ones. When a guy’s in a groove like this, we’ve got to find him a little more.”
Mobley finished with a team-high 24 points on 8-for-12 shooting as Cleveland erased a 13-point deficit and outscored Washington by 20 in the second half. Half of his 12 shots came from beyond the arc, and only three of his makes were inside it.
That raises the obvious question: is this the shot profile the Cavaliers want from their starting power forward and occasional center?
“I think it’s him finding his stuff in the flow,” Atkinson said. “I still want him at the paint, at the rim, just finding that balance.
I think it opens things up for us. He’s taking timely ones.
He’s taking good ones. If he can hit 3s and still be the great defender he is and should be, that could be our next jump.”
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Cavaliers Keep Showing Why Early Deficits May Not Matter
Cleveland kept leaning on the same formula that has already carried it through the first week of the season: survive the rough patches, then take over when the game starts to tighten. The Cavaliers rallied from behind to beat the Wizards 121-111, extending their winning streak to three and getting to a 3-1 start, even after a shaky defensive opening half left them chasing the game.
Evan Mobley again gave Cleveland a steady presence inside and on the perimeter, finishing with 24 points and 12 rebounds, while newcomer Peyton Watson added 22 points in a useful early-season spark. The bigger takeaway for the Cavaliers is that their early deficits have not become panic points, because once the second half arrives, the defensive edge and pace seem to follow. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Keep Finding A Way And One Breakout Stood Out Again
The Cavaliers kept the good run going with a third straight win, and the latest one again had the feel of a team getting contributions from all over the floor. Evan Mobley was at the center of it, giving Cleveland a big night inside and out while Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and Jarrett Allen each supplied their own kind of support on both ends.
Mobleys growing comfort as a scoring threat has become one of the more encouraging signs in this stretch, especially when the Cavs need someone to steady things offensively without leaning on the same script every night. Peyton Watson also gave the game an early boost, and his scoring surge helped set the tone before Cleveland settled into the kind of balanced performance that has started to make its way into the teams recent wins. [Read more 🡒]
Evan Mobley Just Gave Cavs Fans A New Reason To Dream
Evan Mobley gave the Cavaliers plenty to feel good about in Fridays 121-111 comeback win over Washington, the kind of performance that can shift the mood around a team in a hurry. Cleveland trailed by double digits at halftime but found its footing after the break, riding a sharper collective effort and a big night from Mobley to make it three straight victories.
Mobley finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds while stretching the floor in a way Cavaliers fans have been waiting to see more often. The second half also brought timely help from Mario Hezonja and Meleek Thomas as Cleveland pulled even by the end of the third quarter and then closed it out late, leaving the bigger question hanging over what this version of the Cavs might look like once this kind of edge becomes the norm. [Read more 🡒]