Recap: Cavs 103, Bulls 102 (or, Know Thyself)
2023-01-02The Cavs pulled off a gritty road win in the Windy City, taking a close one from the Chicago Bulls 103-102 to close out 2022. Let’s dive into last night’s game…
1. Know Thyself
The Cavs returned to Cavalier basketball, outrebounding Chicago 50-40 and out-assisting them 20-14. Coach JB Bickerstaff thankfully went 10 deep in the rotation, and was rewarded with winning performances from nearly everyone. Cedi Osman (12 points, +9 plus/minus), Raul Neto (three assists, +7 plus/minus), and Isaac Okoro (11 points, seven rebounds, two stocks, +2 plus/minus) in particular really won this game for the Cavs. It’s been criminal of JB to not let Raul Neto eat some regular season minutes to load manage DG and Spida, both of whom look like they’ve been run ragged the first half of the season. Hopefully JB can overcome his trust issues, it’s not really the best way to inspire confidence in the team.
2. The Rodney Dangerfield Award Winners: NBA Champion Kevin Love, Caris LeVert
It was the perpetual trade talk victims NBA Champion Kevin Love and Caris LeVert who carried the offense last night, bailing out a struggling and ball-hogging Donovan Mitchell. Both guys showed they can still play at an elite level, combining for 43 points, 16 rebounds, five assists, and three stocks. It’s hilarious that there are so many fans willing to give up the only other guys who have proven playoff production on this roster. All of the guards have to do a much better job playing off of Love, who creates so much space in the paint with his shooting and passing ability. More Love (and Cedi) will take the offense back to a top five in the NBA level.
3. Stat of the Day
As one can see, Isaac Okoro’s success off the bench this season has been entirely dependent upon him being on the floor with Cedi Osman. The pairing is the best of both worlds: Cedi’s ability to take the offense to an elite level (Cavs offensive rating with Cedi on the court: 116.2), and Okoro’s ability to take the defense to an elite level (Cavs defensive rating with Okoro on the court: 105.8). Both Cedi and Okoro are victims of Coach JB Bickerstaff’s puzzling obsession of playing Lamar Stevens more minutes per game than either player. It will be interesting to see if Bickerstaff’s trends hold or if he finally decides to re-orient the pecking order off the bench or in spot starts.
4. Quick note on the Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are the prime target for a complete tear-down of their roster among hardcore NBA fans given their record and lack of future draft assets. Zach LaVine and Alex Caruso are probably their best trade chips. The moves for Derrick Jones, Jr. and Nikola Vučević have blown up in their faces, alongside the devastating Lonzo Ball injury. Billy Donovan might not be for long in the Windy City either. Keep your eye on this squad to see if they start a cascade of player movement as the NBA nears the trade deadline, a little more than a month away.
5. Next up, Chicago re-run
The Cavs will face off against Chicago again at the friendly confines of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse tonight at 7:00PM Eastern time.
6. Quick Rant and Reaction
Across the Cavs media sphere, there was a narrative pushed by team media members and beat writers that the Cavs’ losing streak was a matter of “shooting variance.” Allow yours truly to counter this silly narrative passed off as “intelligent basketball analysis.” The actual reason the Cavs got lit up on defense was the ability for the Pacers, Raptors, and Nets to play small ball with perimeter wings who can shoot and JB Bickerstaff’s inabilty or unwillingness to matchup against smaller lineups.
Toronto played their “center” Juancho Hernangomez only 24 minutes, opting to go small with Thad Young, Malachi Flynn, and Gary Trent, Jr. off the bench to great effect. The Nets went small with T.J. Warren and Yuta Watanabe, both of whom killed the Cavs while their actual center Nic Claxton (-16 plus/minus in 30 minutes) got ran off the court. The Pacers went small with Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin, who combined for 45 points by frying the Cavs’ perimeter defense over and over. Until JB finds a counter for when teams are able to field perimeter wings who can shoot, it will continue to be a bad matchup for this Cavs team. Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen can be exploited when they’re forced to guard smaller players who can shoot from the perimeter. Making these types of adjustments will be critical for playoff success, JB needs to find a solution for small ball that doesn’t include forcing his tall ball to work.
Another quick rant is based on the recent report from cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor that the Cavs could be targeting Tim Hardaway, Jr. from the Dallas Mavericks. Fedor called THJ an “elite, elite” shooter, which is stretching the idea of “elite” to the point of meaninglessness. If this is Koby Altman’s plan for upgrading the small forward position, CavsDan better be reading him the Riot Act. Hopefully Koby has something better up his sleeve than to bail out Dallas’ poor personnel decisions… GO CAVS!
LT up
I agree go Cavs!!! And start Ice !!!
HOPE YOU ARE RIGHT CLF—–HAVE TO REMIND MYSELF HE IS STILL ONLY 22 —-JUST WOULD LIKE TO KNOW /// HEAR THE CONVERSATIONS WITH HIM// JB // OTHER COACHES —-HOPING THEY ARE ” INSTILLING CONFIDENCE ” IN HIM —-WOULD HAVE HIM SHOOT 100 CORNER SHOTS ( IF NOT MORE ) // EACH CORNER // DAILY —-HAVE HIM BE ABLE TO BE AT A 50 % FROM THE CORNERS
He’s actually 21! but I was referring to JB, who’s in his 40s which is pretty young for a coach! LMFAOOO
HOPING ICE CONTINUES HIS STEADY PLAY –THAT IS A HUGE PLUS FOR THE CAVS —-WOULD LIKE NOTHING BETTER THAN TO ” JUMP ON THE ICE TRAIN ” AGAIN !!!!
He’s finally showing the dribble drive game and passing he showed at Auburn, looks like he just needed some confidence.
Nice stuff, Chris.
Thanks Nate! Had to do it for my boys Caris and Kevin!!! LFMAOOO
go Cavs!
I AGREE GO CAVS
CLF YOU WOULD MAKE AN OUTSTANDING ” UMPIRE ” ;-)
LMFAOOOO THANK YOU! Sending in my resume to MLB NOW!
THANK YOU CLF FOR YOUR ASTUTE OBSEVATIONS —–MORE TIME FOR NETO// OTHER TEAMS GOING ” SMALL BALL –JB FAILING TO ADJUST ” —–JB // STEFANSKI ARE SIMILAR –WHEN THEIR GAME PLAN(S) GO AS PLAN THEY LOOK LIKE PROFESSIONAL COACHES—WHEN THEY HAVE // FORCED TO MAKE ” IN GAME ADJUSTMENTS ” THEIR LACK OF HC SKILL SURFACES —YOU BETTER BELIEVE COME PLAYOFF TIME THERE WILL BE MANY ” IN GAME ADJUSTMENTS S ” TO BE MADE —-DOES JB ” HAVE ” AN EAR ” FOR HIS ASSISTANT COACHES —THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE THERE FOR TO WATCH// SEE// HELP ” IN… Read more »
Thanks NOMAD as always! Luckily JB is still young so there’s theoretically time for him to improve.
Nice work! Love the dig at Fedor too! 😂
LMFAOOO just calling balls and strikes!! The shooting variance one particularly infuriated me, yeah sure the Cavs are losing simply because they’re getting unlucky, OK!!! LMFAOOOOO
Chris, nice recap–and agreed on point #6. My reaction to the “unlucky Cavs D”–not that I wanted to see it happen–was, how long can a team be unlucky before they try something different, just for the heck of it? In that three-game stretch, I can almost excuse the Durant/Kyrie threes; the folks you mentioned above are NOT them. The Cavs are now 24th in defensive 3-point %. I really think JB believes that the sheer length of Mobley and Allen can reach any shooter anywhere. It’s obviously not working. I also don’t want to hold onto lazy analytical claims, but… Read more »
Yeah, I think JB’s explored the limits of Mobley and Allen on the perimeter and the limit is clearly when those perimeter wings can shoot. Giannis is actually an easier matchup for the Cavs than KD or even Pascal Siakam because Giannis does not shoot from the perimeter.
Conversely, if JB wants to keep trotting out tall ball, they have to be able to do more damage offensively to pay for teams going small. That never happened against Indy, Toronto, or Brooklyn.
Agreed–DM isn’t used to feeding offensive bigs, but he is smart enough to adapt. I was actually impressed by his willingness to pass this season…but they need to make that a focal point against smaller teams, as you said.
yup, and ironically Spida’s worst skill is the lob pass to big men… he somehow just straight up sucks at it I don’t get it LMFAOOO
agree. gotta take advantage of being tall.