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Cavs getting teams' best shot

Cavaliers are ‘getting everyone’s best shot now’

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After a busy Sunday with the family, I’m rewatching Saturday night’s come-from-behind win over the Nets.

Mercifully, there was no Browns game this weekend, so Northeast Ohio was able to celebrate the Cavs’ 11-0 start without any distractions.

On the second night of a back-to-back – and the Cavaliers looking a bit sluggish at times – Evan Mobley led the Cavs with 23 points, 16 rebounds, four steals and a late-game block. He really stepped up when the team needed him.

Donovan Mitchell went 4-for-4 from 3-point range in the first quarter and the Cavs jumped out to a 34-28 lead. But the feisty Nets – who lost to the Celtics in OT the night before – kept hitting shots, and seemingly had the Cavaliers on the ropes in the third quarter.

With Mobley and Darius Garland leading the way, the Cavs dug out of a 14-point deficit and outscored the Nets 35-18 in the fourth quarter, eking out a 105-100 win.

A few thoughts:

  1. Even with Dean Wade in uniform and presumably feeling better, coach Kenny Atkinson went with Isaac Okoro in the starting lineup, for the fourth straight game. On the telecast Saturday night, John Michael made a point to mention that Atkinson planned to stick with that lineup going forward. I like Okoro, but I like Wade better as a starter.
  2. Okoro had a great game Friday night against Golden State, going 4-for-6 from 3-point range. He finished with 16 points, four assists and a team-high +32 rating.
  3. The next night against Brooklyn, Okoro had three points and went 0-for-3 from 3-point range. He finished with a team-low -20 rating.
  4. Okoro wasn’t the only Cav who was in a funk. Jarrett Allen – the double-double machine – looked gassed in the second night of a back-to-back. The usually dependable Allen finished with four points and five rebounds, and Atkinson limited the Fro to 21 minutes of playing time.
  5. The Nets were on the second night of a back-to-back as well, and they gave the Cavaliers all they could handle, one night after giving the NBA champs all they could handle. Caris LeVert credited the Nets’ full-court pressure and physical defense for disrupting the Cavs’ flow.
  6. “They did a really good job just kind of mucking the game up, making it a little slower, not letting us move freely,” LeVert said. “We’ll watch the film and see how we can get better from it.”
  7. After the Cavaliers’ 105-100 victory, the Cavs’ NBA-leading scoring average dropped from 124.5 points per game to 122.7.
  8. LeVert had 12 points, six assists and two blocks for the Cavs off the bench. Commenting on the Nets’ defensive pressure, LeVert said: “You’re starting to see that we’re getting everyone’s best shot now. People are starting to take notice of what we’re doing, and it’s fun.”
  9. If this is the year that the Cavs take the next step, winning the second night of a back-to-back is just the latest sign that they’re ready. “It was a great challenge for us,” LeVert told reporters. “Great teams win the second nights of back-to-backs.”
  10. The Cavs’ camaraderie was on full display during Garland’s postgame interview, when Donovan Mitchell tried to douse Garland with water (or liquid LSD). Garland, who hit some clutch shots in the fourth quarter, was clearly gassed. “We fought for 48 minutes, literally,” Garland said. “Coming off a back-to-back, that was a big ****ing win. That was a good win.”

 

Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse 2

Cavs eviscerate Warriors, and I’m busting

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I’m trying not to overreact here.

It’s a long season.

A lot can happen between now and the end of April.

Still, it’s hard not to get super-pumped when you’ve parlayed $10 into $13.60 since downloading the FanDuel Sportsbook app. I’m on a two-game win streak, and the Cavs are on a 10-game win streak, so life is good (as they say in the popular parlance).

I am busting. Jerry, I’m busting!

 

 

The Cavs just gave the Golden State Warriors – our archnemesis, the evil empire – a taste of their own medicine in front of a rapturous home crowd. A comeuppance, if you will (and I will). The 3-point shots were falling, the offense was flowing and the camaraderie was on full display at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, on a Friday night to boot.

If I may be so bold: It wasn’t unlike watching the Warriors in their heyday.

As many fans probably do, I have a veritable Cavalanche of thoughts.

  1. A relative in the Bay Area texted me earlier this week, feeling very confident about the Warriors. And this was before they beat the Celtics. I tried to temper his expectations, in the most loving way possible. I tried to convey just how scorching hot the Cavs are right now. But I guess he had to see for himself. He had to learn the hard way.
  2. Making history: At the end of the first half, with the Cavs up 83-42, FanDuel Sports Network’s Serena Winters noted that the 83-point outburst set a franchise record for most points scored in a first half. The Associated Press said the 41-point halftime lead is a franchise first. The Cavs came into the game holding the record for consecutive wins to open a season. The hits just keep coming.
  3. No news flash here: In a postgame interview, Ty Jerome affirmed that the Cavs are playing with a lot of confidence right now. Jerome had 20 points off the Cavalier bench. “We have a lot of depth, [and] we’re using it,” Jerome told Winters. “Different guys [are] stepping up every night. And we’re rolling.”
  4. The Warriors came to town riding a five-game win streak, and they were undefeated on the road. They were riding high after a big win in Boston. This throwback (or should I say “froback”) game had all the markings of a marquee matchup. But it didn’t play out that way. The Warriors never led in this game, and they looked lethargic. The first half looked like a Harlem Globetrotters game, at times.
  5. “I think the biggest thing is how we came out and set the tone right from the beginning,” Georges Niang said on the postgame show. “Just defensively wearing them out, and then getting the spots we wanted to get to and making shots.” It was raining threes inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Isaac Okoro, who started in place of Dean Wade, was 4-for-6 from 3-point range, while Ty Jerome was 3-for-3 and Darius Garland was 6-for-11 from long distance.
  6. Raising the bar: When you’re as hot as the Cavs are right now, you have to challenge yourself to get better, even after a decisive 136-117 win over Steph Curry and the Warriors. In the second half, Golden State outscored the Cavs 75-53. That wasn’t lost on Jerome. “We need to keep getting better everyday,” he said. “That second half wasn’t great. We picked up some bad habits. We kind of played to the score.”
  7. Jarrett Allen used that same phrase in his postgame interview. “We didn’t come out with the same intensity, the same defensive mindset,” Allen added. “They got a lot of easy baskets on us, and we weren’t sharing the ball.” Still, when you’ve built a 41-point lead at halftime, I think you’re allowed to pace yourself in the second half – especially on the first night of a back-to-back.
  8. Speaking of Allen, I made a $5 bet that The Fro would snag more than 10 rebounds in the game. I think he had six or seven at halftime. With the game trending in the direction that it was, my biggest concern was that Allen might see limited action in the second half, as Atkinson – who has leaned into the Cavs’ depth from Week 1 – might want to rest him with Saturday night’s game in mind. Fortunately (for me, at least), the Warriors played much better in the second half, and Allen grabbed 12 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. And I’m $2.08 richer.
  9. Would it be terrible if I said Allen probably would’ve played 44 minutes if J.B. Bickerstaff was still coaching? Am I a bad person for saying that?
  10. I feel like I’m late to the sports-betting party, and that’s probably a good thing, given my personality. It’s fun, though. One thing I don’t like is that it changes the way you watch a game. I found myself rooting for Golden State to make it a close game in the second half, simply because it increased the chances of Allen staying on the court. And every time the Cavs launched a 3-pointer – which was often – I was disappointed, just for a nanosecond, when it went in.
  11. This one goes to 11: While the Cavs cruised Friday night, the Nets lost to Boston in overtime, 108-104. In terms of “heavy legs,” Brooklyn likely will be at a disadvantage. The Cavs have an excellent shot at an 11th consecutive win to start the season.
New Orleans

Cavs set a franchise record in the Big Easy, and they make it look kinda easy

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We have a fruit-fly infestation in our home, and the Cavaliers set a franchise record by starting the season 9-0.

I’d rather talk about the Cavs.

The Cavaliers fell behind early, tied it at halftime and then overpowered the Pelicans in the second half. They’re absolutely rolling.

I’d like to tell you it wasn’t easy in the Big Easy, just so I can use that line, but … it kinda was. At least in the second half. Even with the Pelicans outscoring the Cavs 34-32 in the fourth quarter – and even with the disparity in foul shots – it never felt like the win streak was in serious jeopardy. The Cavs are just too locked-in right now.

Here are some initial thoughts. With my ADHD brain, it’s hard to corral all of them.

  1. I think it’s safe to say that this is a really good situation for Kenny Atkinson, who now holds the record for the longest winning streak by a coach in their first year with a team. Atkinson inherited a team that made it to the Eastern Conference semifinals last season. But he also got a group that must be a coach’s dream: talented, no-nonsense, unselfish. There’s great chemistry, and not a whiff of any LeBron-size egos. Most of them have been playing together for a few years, so there’s familiarity, continuity and trust. And they’re mostly healthy.
  2. Atkinson brings “a calm sort of confidence,” Caris LeVert told reporters after the Cavs won their ninth straight to start the season. “He never panics. I think he just fits perfectly with the group. It’s kind of been a seamless transfer.”
  3. That calm confidence was palpable when the Cavs fell behind early in the game. They steadily chipped away at a 12-point Pelicans lead, tying the game at 59-59 by halftime.
  4. The Cavs are a team that looks ready to take the next step, and Atkinson – after three years as an assistant to Steve Kerr in Golden State – looks like he’s ready to take his coaching career to the next level. He’s in the perfect spot to do that.
  5. One of the kids left an open smoothie bottle on the kitchen table. When we came back from a five-day trip to upstate New York, there were fruit flies everywhere. When I saw a cloud of fruit flies enveloping the smoothie bottle, it was clear that something comparable to an orgy had taken place in there.
  6. Speaking of smoothies, it seemed like there were a lot of empty seats at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. The official attendance was 15,694, but the margin of error is a couple thousand, right?
  7. Atkinson was a hot topic of conversation during the Cavs postgame show. On Atkinson’s decision to pass up potential head-coaching jobs so he could continue working with Kerr in  Golden State, Austin Carr opined: “[Atkinson] knew he had to have a little bit more polish on his coaching game.” It sure seems like things are clicking for Atkinson now.
  8. LeVert picked up right where he left off after missing the last couple games with knee soreness. LeVert had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists in the win over New Orleans.
  9. “It’s just a fun group to play with,” LeVert told reporters after the game. “We enjoy being around each other. And we’re getting better every game.”
  10. I can’t say enough about Ty Jerome. He had 11 points, five assists and two steals in 15:48 of game action. “His IQ is through the roof,” Atkinson said of Jerome, who missed all but two games last year with a severe ankle injury. Not to be overlooked on his list of compliments, Atkinson added: “I’m really happy with his defense too.”
Kenny Atkinson

Kenny Atkinson has been a breath of fresh air so far

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Heading into his first season as head coach of the Cavaliers, Kenny Atkinson said he planned to embrace the team’s depth.

So far, Atkinson has delivered on that pledge.

Unlike his predecessor – who managed each regular-season game with tight, playoff-style rotations – Atkinson has turned to his bench early and often.

The overall result has been a balanced attack, a free-flowing offense and two wins against weaker teams to start the 2024-2025 season.

The reserves amassed 64 points in Cleveland’s Game 1 blowout in Toronto, led by Caris LeVert with 19 points and Ty Jerome with 16.

While the bench wasn’t nearly as prolific in Friday night’s home opener against the Pistons, Atkinson utilized seven reserves in the 113-101 Cleveland victory.

LeVert chipped in nine points in the win over Detroit, while Jerome again provided a huge spark off the bench with 13 points and four assists.

LeVert, Sam Merrill, Georges Niang, Isaac Okoro and Jerome each played more than 15 minutes.

If it were any other team, this might not seem like earth-shattering news. But Atkinson’s rotations have been a refreshing change of pace compared to former Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who lacked trust in his reserves and refused to develop his younger players.

Jerome, in particular, already has emerged as the kind of player who can make a big impact off the bench.

“He’s been good since we started in open gym in September,” Atkinson told reporters after the game. “He’s been fantastic. I think that injury was a little bit of a wakeup call. I know he’s dedicated a lot of work to his body and getting healthy. It’s paying off.”

 

Darius Garland 2

‘He’s just getting comfortable’: Darius Garland is looking more like himself

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Darius Garland’s first game back after fracturing his jaw was Jan. 31 against the Pistons. Up until the last few games, though, it hasn’t felt like Garland has been back.

Considering how smoothly the offense flowed when Donovan Mitchell was running the point in Garland’s six-week absence, his role on the team going forward has been the subject of much debate.

Adding fuel to the fire, Garland just hasn’t looked like himself since returning.

At his best, Garland is a quick, crafty, elusive slasher who can create his own shot and score on demand. Garland is a perimeter threat as well, and he hit 41% of his 3-point attempts last season (a career high). Complementing his scoring capabilities, Garland is a gifted passer, and has been among the league leaders in assists for the past two seasons (he ranked seventh in the NBA last year and sixth in 2021-2022).

Since coming back from a broken jaw that he suffered in a collision with Kristaps Porzingis on Dec. 14, Garland has struggled to find a rhythm. In his first game back, on Jan. 31, Garland score 19 points in 20 minutes. The next night in Memphis, he had nine points in 24 minutes, although he dished out seven assists.

In a Feb. 7 win at Washington, Garland had 13 points and four assists in 28 minutes.

Garland has looked tentative, especially when driving to the basket. That’s completely understandable in my view. I can’t imagine a more painful or frustrating sports injury than a fractured jaw. I’d be a little gun-shy too. But to make matters worse, his perimeter shots haven’t been falling either.

Fortunately, it seems like the fifth-year guard is starting to turn a corner.

In the Cavaliers’ double-overtime loss in Chicago on Feb. 28, Garland was 7-of-14 from 3-point range in a 23-point performance. And that was just a warmup for Friday’s game in Detroit.

Against the Pistons, Garland hit eight 3-pointers and led the Cavs to a 110-100 win without Mitchell in the lineup. Garland finished with a game-high 29 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists.

Garland is a 38.5% career 3-point shooter. When his shot is falling – he was a scorching 8-of-12 from 3-point range in Detroit – it puts defenders in a bind.

“It makes people have to chase him and make tough decisions,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters after the March 1 win in Detroit. “Now you have to decide if you want to trap him, if you want to switch, and then all that does is create advantages for us in other places. And he’s such a willing passer, if you trap him he’ll get off of it and now we’re playing 4-on-3 advantage basketball. So we love it, we love to see him be aggressive and get as many 3’s up as he can.”

Bickerstaff had a good perspective on Garland’s progress since returning from the jaw injury, and the unique challenges of having your jaw wired shut for a few weeks.

“He’s just getting comfortable, that’s one of the things,” Bickerstaff said. “In the middle of a season to just completely have to pause – and remember, he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t lift a weight, he couldn’t touch a basketball. And then he had to work his way back, and you gotta kind of ramp yourself back up.”

For Garland, it was almost like being in training camp again.

“But again, we don’t have time to stop, and he’s just been going game after game,” Bickerstaff added. ” … And I think what you’re seeing now is his confidence is growing, his teammates continue to feed in his success, and he continues to help them. So he’s Darius, and he’s who we expected him to be.”

As the Cavaliers grind through a grueling post-All-Star-break schedule, the real return of Darius Garland should be a welcome sight for Cavs fans.

Cavs Knicks

How would the Cavs stack up against the Knicks in a playoff rematch?

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These past two months have been a fun ride for Cavs fans.

Since Dec. 16 – their first game without the services of Darius Garland and Evan Mobley – the Cavaliers are 23-5. By opening up the offense and clamping down on defense, the Cavs have managed to slingshot from the No. 9 seed to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference during that time.

But, as fans learned the hard way last year, a sterling regular season doesn’t mean much if you lay an egg in the first round of the playoffs.

Sure, the regular season is great and all, and getting a top-five seed in the Eastern Conference is a nifty accomplishment. The Cavaliers finished in the No. 4 spot last year, landing what everyone seemed to think was a favorable matchup against the New York Knicks.

Everyone, of course, except the Knicks.

The Cavs were 31-10 in the friendly confines of Rocket Mortage FieldHouse during the regular season. Unfortunately, that didn’t translate to the playoffs. Despite having home-court advantage against the Knicks, the Cavaliers were outmuscled, outhustled and outcoached in a one-sided series that quickly erased the warm fuzzies of the team’s best season since the second LeBron era.

In this multi-part series, we’re taking a look at some of the most critical factors that determined the outcome of the 2023 Eastern Conference Semifinals, and seeing if any of those might shift in the Cavs’ favor this year.

Physicality

The Knicks’ 106-95 closeout of the gentleman’s sweep in Cleveland was a microcosm of much of the series. Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 23 points, and the Cavs were absolutely manhandled on the boards. Mitchell Robinson was dominant, gobbling up 18 rebounds – 11 of which were offensive.

What’s most offensive about those types of rebounds is they create soul-crushing second- and third-chance opportunities – a kiss of death in the playoffs.

The Cavs seemed caught off-guard not only by the physicality of the Knicks but also by the physicality of playoff basketball. Apparently, J.B. Bickerstaff didn’t get the memo – or pass along the memo, if he had it – that the referees tend to swallow their whistles in the playoffs. That style of play certainly favored Julius Randle and the Knicks.

In the Knicks’ 101-97 Game 1 win in Cleveland, New York had 17 offensive rebounds – none bigger than when Randle crashed the glass and snagged the rebound on a missed Brunson jumper with 9 seconds left that helped the Knicks seal the win.

What’s changed since last season?

If we consider rebounding as one proxy for physicality, the Cavs have taken a big leap this season. Last season, the Cavaliers ranked 25th out of 30 teams in rebounds per game, at 41.1 per game. The Knicks ranked third, with 46.6 per game.

At the All-Star break this season, the Cavs rank sixth with 45 rebounds per game, while the Knicks rank fourth with 45.9 per game. That’s a promising trend for the Cavs.

The Knicks have been without the 7-foot Robinson since he sustained a stress fracture in his left ankle Dec. 8 in Boston. Robinson was leading the NBA with 5.3 offensive rebounds per game when he got hurt. Given that Randle has been hurt as well, it’s impressive that the Knicks have remained one of the league’s top rebounding teams.

As for the Cavaliers’ year-over-year improvement, it starts with Jarrett Allen. The Fro – who now holds the franchise record for consecutive games with a double-double in a season (16) – ranks eighth in the NBA with 10.6 rebounds per game. Mobley is averaging 10.2 per game. Dean Wade averages 4.3 rebounds per game off the bench.

And let’s not forget Mitchell, who is averaging a career-high 5.4 per game.

While Strus is known for his 3-point shooting, he’s averaging nearly five rebounds a game. Niang averages 3.6 boards off the bench. More importantly for the Cavaliers, the 6-foot-7 Niang brings some of the toughness and attitude that were sorely lacking in the playoffs last year. The “G-Wagon” actively seeks confrontations.

The same could be said of Tristan Thompson – a wild card if there ever was one. Until he was suspended, Thompson was playing like the frontcourt enforcer the Cavs needed to help Allen and Mobley bang around with the Knicks in a grind-it-out playoff series. Plus, he has tons of playoff experience.

Signing the 12-year veteran last September seemed like a masterstroke, and a relative bargain at $2 million. He looked like vintage Double T – a guy who has averaged 8.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game over his career (much of that coming off the bench). After serving a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy, Thompson would return to action in the middle of March, shortly after his 33rd birthday.

The question is, can Thompson provide his trademark energy and toughness without the aid of performance-enhancing substances? If so, he could be an X factor for the Cavaliers in the postseason.

The bigger X factor is Evan Mobley.

We know he has the skillset. But thanks to his offseason work in the weight room, the 6-11 Mobley has been more assertive in the paint. I think we’ll see a different version of Mobley in the playoffs this year – a stronger, more confident Mobley who has the upper-body strength to duke it out with the likes of Robinson and Randle, if they play.

About that.

The Knicks initially feared that Robinson would be out for the remainder of the season. However, Robinson’s trainer recently shared a video of the 7-footer in the gym, catching and tossing a medicine ball. The ominous caption: “Getting playoff ready!”

While there hasn’t been any official word from the Knicks on Robinson’s return, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau on Feb. 6 told reporters that the Knicks are “very pleased with how he’s coming along.” At that time, Thibodeau said Robinson likely would resume on-court work after the All-Star break – which is now-ish.

Randle dislocated his shoulder on Jan. 27. According to Fred Katz of The Athletic, the three-time All-Star “is already pushing to return from the injury.” In a Feb. 20 article, Katz wrote:

“Doctors have to clear Randle to play before he can compete in a practice, let alone a game. There is growing optimism inside the Knicks that a Randle return will come with time remaining in the regular season. The team’s starting power forward notoriously insists on playing through pain. But now, with the New York Knicks hoping for a playoff run, the job of the training staff and team doctors is to save Randle from himself.”

Robinson and Randle aren’t the only Knicks battling injuries.

Hartenstein, who had a cup of coffee with the Cavaliers, has been dealing with an Achilles injury. Hartenstein, Donte DiVincenzo (hamstring) and newly acquired Bojan Bogdanovic (calf) all missed the final game before the All-Star break – a 118-100 loss at Orlando. However, they’re all expected to suit up when play resumes Thursday.

Former Raptor OG Anunoby is recovering from elbow surgery. Quoting a league source, Katz reported that doctors will re-evaluate Anunoby on March 1, “and expect him to resume on-court activities not long after.”

That’s a big injury, because the 6-7 Anunoby – acquired in a trade with Toronto in late December – is a defensive stalwart.

With all that said, let’s assume the Knicks will be at full strength. After all, hoping that certain players remain hobbled isn’t a viable strategy. The Knicks beat the Cavs in five games last season even with Randle nursing a bum ankle (which required surgery in the offseason).

Advantage: Knicks

In terms of physicality, it pains me to say that the Knicks have the edge.

With Robinson, Randle and Hartenstein alone, the Knicks have the edge in size and brawn. They also have 6-10 backup center Jericho Sims. But that wasn’t enough for the Knicks, who are in hot pursuit of their first NBA title since 1973. They went out and traded for Anunoby, who, before his injury, “transformed” the Knicks’ defense.

“All of a sudden, the Knicks employed one of the world’s rare do-it-all defenders, someone who can guard all five positions, a descriptor that the basketball world throws around too generously,” Katz wrote. “Various players can switch from one through five, but only a handful can start on point guards to centers. The Knicks have one of those guys.”

The Anunoby trade also landed Precious Achiuwa, a 6-8, 240-pound power forward who has played well after seeing an uptick in his minutes in recent weeks.

Allen and Mobley will have their hands full with that lineup. So will the 6-5 Strus. At 6-9, Wade brings good size and is a relentless defender. But he has yet to develop the type of physique that can turn him into a force in the low post.

While Allen is having an excellent season, The Fro is a finesse player – not a bruiser – whose strengths are his footwork, speed and athleticism. As mentioned earlier, Mobley looks stronger this season, and he’s said in interviews that he aspires for a Giannis-like physique – which is great to hear. Mobley is the type of competitor who will stop at nothing until he achieves his goal.

In terms of physicality and rebounding, Mobley might be the only player on Cleveland’s roster who can singlehandedly shift the pendulum toward the Cavs in a potential playoff rematch with the Knicks.

Team logos courtesy of SportsLogos.net.

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