Recap: Bulls 134, Cavs 145 (OT) (or, Donovan Mitchell for MVP)
2023-01-03Last night the Cavs executed a miraculous overtime comeback win against the Bulls 145-134, on the back of one Donovan “Spida” Mitchell, who authored one of the greatest offensive performances in NBA history with 71 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds, and a team high +19 plus/minus in 50 grueling minutes. Lets dive into last night’s takeaways…
1. Donovan Mitchell for MVP
This is why Koby Altman pulled the trigger this past summer. This is why yours truly advocated for such a move in the offseason. A player as talented as Donovan Mitchell never becomes available at the beginning of his prime, and already on a long-term cost-controlled contract. Trading for Mitchell when the opportunity presented itself is what successful, championship minded organizations do.
What transpired last night was a stunning display of Spida’s will to win in the game of basketball. The Cavs needed every single point of that 71 in order to win last night, any less and the Cavs would’ve lost that game. What Mitchell did, he did out of necessity and the basketball gods rewarded him kindly. Mitchell showed he has that x-factor all the greats have… Jordan, Kobe, LeBron. If you’re enjoying what Spida is doing now, just wait until the playoffs arrive…!
2. My sincere apologies to Spida
I short-changed him 20 points, but in fairness to yours truly I didn’t want to be unreasonable!
3. Spida didn’t do it alone…
Even though Mitchell’s 71 is the obvious highlight and story here, there were several standout performances from the rest of the crew that was severely shorthanded. Starting off with Jarrett Allen, he delivered an All-Star performance with 21 efficient points, eight rebounds, two assists, a block, and a +11 plus/minus in 39 minutes of action. The Cavs would not have won without JA’s activity on the offensive glass.
NBA Champion Kevin Love delivered a double double with 12 points, 17 rebounds, two assists, and a +6 plus/minus in 38 minutes. It’s the second game in a row that KLOVE has shown there’s a lot left in the tank. The sense of urgency Love has shown this season has been exactly what this young team needs to become champions too.
Cedi “The Jedi” Osman continues to play winning ball with a Sixth Man of the Year worthy performance dropping 19 points, four assists, three rebounds, and a bench high +15 plus/minus in 36 minutes of action. Even though he did not start the game, JB surprisingly gave Cedi starter level minutes over a struggling Lamar Stevens. Bickerstaff was handsomely rewarded, and hopefully will continue to keep increasing Cedi’s minutes, while decreasing Stevens’.
Even Caris LeVert and Isaac Okoro delivered positive minutes for the Cavs while not putting up great numbers. LeVert had a massively clutch three pointer in the last two minutes of regulation to keep it a one score game. Okoro was able to eat 20 minutes of action and still come away with a +3 plus/minus, which was huge with Stevens struggling. Raul Neto proved yet again he should be receiving consistent minutes with a +3 plus/minus in 17 minutes of action. These guys were able to keep the game afloat until Mitchell got into the zone in the third quarter.
4. Quick note on the Bulls
What can one say? The drumbeat for the Chicago Bulls tear-down only growing louder…
5. Next up, the Phoenix Suns
The Cavs welcome a downtrodden Phoenix Suns who’ve lost six out of their last seven games to the shores of Lake Erie on Wednesday night. They will be without Devin Booker certainly, and possibly without Cam Johnson also. It’ll be a great opportunity for the Cavs to build some momentum heading into their second tour of the American West, Go Cavs!
P.S. Cavs History with NBA Champion Kevin Love
No particular order but these top my time as a Cav
Bron Game 1 2018 finals
Ky 55 vs Portland and 57 vs San Antonio
Don 71 tonight
Bron and Ky 41 a piece in game 5 down 3-2 2016 finals
Obviously my 34 point first quarter against PortlandWhat am I missing?
— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) January 3, 2023
LT up
Mobley is back. No Garland. There is also a change at SF.
Okoro starting at SF!
FWIW, we are 6-0 in OT this year.
3 of those wins have been by 10 pts or more (one in 2 OT).
1 by 9 pts.
The other 2 by 1 pt.
Cavs 5.5 point favorites tonight.
Suns, as expected, have both Cameron and Booker out tonight.
Fedor also guesses that Rubio will be back in the upcoming road-trip.
Also looking ahead, no Zion Williamson (hamstring) for the Pelicans when they come to Cleveland on 1/16.
Is Ingram still hurt?
Ingram is out tonight for the Pelicans.
Good news.
Yep. And Crowder pouting. No Cam Johnson nor Crowder puts a dent in the forward rotation.
And now no Booker.
And we get them again on the road trip.
Suns have been struggling with Booker (& Johnson & Crowder).
How cool is it that Love is acting as Cavs Recent History Curator? Chris, that “sense of urgency” Love displays is the reason Love is so valuable to this team–he isn’t just a towel-waving twelfth man feigning tremors after a big dunk, but a key contributor whose importance to their offense is often understated and whose rebounding is huge. When Rubio returns, I have hope we will not need 71-point explosions from Mitchell or 54-point rallies from DG to keep us in games. The second unit will be holding/extending leads. Also, how humble of Love to ask if he forgot… Read more »
Some outside perspective on the Mitchell trade, ainge was fleeced!!!
SAM ” MY MAN ” MERRIL HAS “COOLED ” OFF THE LAST FEW GAMES ” ONLY ” HITTING ABOUT 43 % ON HIS 3’S ——–SCOOPER STILL TOP OR AND 2ND LEADING GLEAGUE SCORER BELIEVE ABOUT 27PPG—HIS 3 PT SHOOTING HAS IMPROVED—STILL T.O. PRONE—ANYONE THINK HE HAS A POSSIBLE FUTURE WITH THE CAVS
WRT DM going into the paint before the ball hit the rim: in the overhead view, you can see there are already FOUR other guys in the paint before DM crosses the line.
Raoul, true, but the dichotomy of the rule is that the shooter cannot enter the paint until the ball hits the rim; the rebounders can enter the paint once the ball is released. Did the overhead view show them in the paint early?
JASON I ALWAYS WELCOME YOUR INSIGHT/ OBSERVATIONS/ KNOWLEDGE —ESPECIALLY OF FREE AGENTS // CONTRACTS // ETC WHICH I WILL ADMIT I AM TOTALLY CLUELESS —-THANKS FOR KEEPING ” OL NOMAD ” EDUACTED WITH THE TIMES—MUCH APPRECIATED !!
The NBA season is long. Everyone lays an egg now & then or hits a rough patch.
OKC 150-117 over Boston without SGA. Ouch.
WHO IS OUT TONIGHT—IS SPIDA PLAYING ( DUE TO THE HEAVY MIN’S THE OTHER NIGHT )—NEED SOME ” NETO MIN’S TONIGHT
Can’t see any pressers about change to player availability. DG & Mobley are closest to returning, from what I read.
LOOKING AT OKC—-THEY SEEM TO GET NO NAME PLAYERS AND DEVELOP THEM INTO PRETTY GOOD ROLE// BENCH PLAYERS // WE NEED THAT DEVELOPMENT HERE
We have it. I think. Cedi is pretty good many nights. Wade when healthy. Love. LeVert. Rubio when healthy. Even Stevens & Okoro are good defensively. Neto.
It is just that all thise guys either have holes in their games that get exposed in big minutes (Love’s D), are terribly inconsistent offensively (LeVert, Cedi), can’t shoot (Okoro, Stevens, Neto), or cannot seem to stay healthy playing big minutes (Wade). If any were more consistent or more well-rounded, they’d be starters.
BUCKAROO—I DID A “CLF “—-AM STILL NERVOUS AND STILL WEARING MY CHUCK TAYLORS :-)
AGREE WITH YOU ALSO ARCH ON LEVERT// LOVE– BRING THEM BACK ON TEAM FRIENDLY CONTRACTS —–THEY EACH PROVIDE DIFFERENT SKILLS THAT ARE AN ASSET FOR THE CAVS
If both are amenable, I vote yes. But I would not be too miserly with either. Reason being, even if we let both walk, we do not have cap space to sign FA’s anyway. So the most a little padding costs us is dropping down from the non-taxpaying mid-level to the tax-paying mid-level, in terms of spending on FAs. I am sure Gilbert would like to stay out of the tax, but if we are gonna contend, we are likely over that line. Dan has proven willing to cross it with a contender. Adding the best FA SF we can… Read more »
BEEN HOPING THAT YOU ARE CORRECT SCOTCH —-A HEALTHY—-BIG IF HERE —WINDLER —-HELPS SOLVE THE 3 SPOT —-THINK CAVS ARE BEING EXTRA CAUTIOUS/// GIVING HIM AMPLE RECOVERY TIME FOR THIS REASON —WE SHALL SEE ——-WHEN HEALTHY// AND CONFIDENT HE BRINGS ALOT TO THE TABLE
A healthy Dylan Windler is the answer for our starting 3. Wade is better but I think would actually perform better as a bench 4 than a starting 3. I still believe this. Dylan doesn’t shoot worse than Okoro or Stephens. He rebounds better than them. He doesn’t need to play 30+ mins cuz you could split he and Cedi 25-25 and still find room for 10 guys. Cedi is great for 25 mins usually but can be diminishing returns after 30. He pushes the other team so hard in transition. If Windler can pull a Curry and permanently heal… Read more »
I’ve said it before and will again. If Windler gets healthy and starts starts hitting 3s, it’s over.
that would be nice. but how can you guess what Windler would do if he was ever healthy enough to play?
Cavs should try and extend Love/LeVert to reasonable deals, since it will be difficult to replace their production, if they leave.
Oy..arch..Levert is a tough one. Actually Love is a tough one unless we are healthy. Ok I revert to Levert being the tough one. His defense has been better than advertised this year. And he can get stupid hot when playing the right amount of on ball minutes. But those games are so few and far between the way JB is using DM and DG that he is kinda wasted here. Love could play 10 mins a game for the rest of his career and as long as his thumb heals he will be an asset. Rebounds and 3s are… Read more »
Fully agree.
Levert is what he is, and it ain’t half bad. Doubt if he can be traded for someone better.
There is every reason to think that Love will take a large hometown discount. And he is worth more to the Cavs than probably anyone else.
Keeping Love is a no brainer.
btw the Jazz are 19-21 after a really good start to the season. Lauri still playing well but the team has officially been scouted. Who do we have to give up to get Lauri back next season? Cuz yes plz.
One of the big 4, since we don’t have any draft picks.
The Suns game tomorrow will be a good test of whether we are actually turning a corner again or if the bulls are just bad (although suns are as injured as we are). Cuz before these two wins we looked pretty terrible. I don’t love that we seem to play better without DG simply because we have fewer options on offense and it simplifies things a bit. I’ll bang the gong again…that goes to poor coaching. If you can’t utilize extra talent on the floor you may as well not have the extra talent. In the regular season you can… Read more »
this might be a surprise, but most teams have good and bad days. maybe all the coaches are idiots. what a moron Steve Kerr must be — the Dubs are totally up and down this year.
NBA decides to “randomly” drug test Mitchell, after dropping 71.
Hi energy guy! At the end of 48, he ran over to the bench and was shoving guys and celebrating. In OT, he outran the entire Bulls 5 on a coast to coast, and put it in over the last guy. Impressive!
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Energy Guy!
OKC 150 Bos 117 WTF?
OKC is the wild card of this year. They have smashed some of the best teams in the league. Inconsistent but when they are in rhythm they can stomp the best of them.
FWIW, Mitchell’s put back should not have counted. Obvious lane violation there on Spida. He is in the lane WAAAY before the ball hits the rim.
NBA officiating is terrible.
***
I think that the rule has changed (either in law or in practice) from “hit the rim” to “start downward trajectory”. That is when the players in first spots go into the lane to block the players in the second spots, and usually one from a third spot goes to the middle to block the shooter.
Anyway, after watching it several times, I still cannot see how he got the ball to go in.
If they called all of the lane violations of the guys on the block I’d agree. They do not. Although they seemed very ready to catch Caruso carelessly flouting the rules from the top of the key. Weirdly officiated game.
PED tests all around!
“EPIC ” WRITE UP FOR AN ” EPIC ” PERFORMANCE ——-AT MY AGE I HAVE LIVED THRU MANY ” GREAT ” SPORTS MEMORIES —YEP I WATCHED THE BROWNS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME —AS I AM SURE BUCKAROO// RAOUL DID ALSO !!———THE ONLY OTHER EPIC ” OFFENSIVE ” DISPLAY THAT MAY EQUAL THIS IS ON OUR HONEYMOON NIGHT …..THE MRS NOMAD INDICATED I WAS ” VERY OFFENSIVE ” THAT NIGHT —CAN BE TAKEN ALOT OF DIFFERENT WAYS ——SORRY FOR THE FUTILE // SIC ATTEMPT AT HUMOR…………..” MORE BEER PLEASE ” :-)
Another “pre-Love (and pre-LeBron)” honorable mention would go to Game 2 in the 1992 East Finals. Bulls had just finished a 7-game semfinals slug fest (literally) with the Pat Riley Knicks, and after they beat the Cavs in Game 1, the media narrative was, “ok, the competitive portion of the East playoffs is over, now the Bulls will cruise to the Finals.” Cavs come out in Game 2 on a mission and blow the Bulls out of their own gym, up 26 at half-time in a much lower-scoring era. Bulls were reduced to excuse making afterward (Jordan wasn’t feeling well,… Read more »
Sorry, that reply was to Excel. Also, hard to mention Game 5 in 2007 without also shouting out Game 6, the “Boobie Gibson” Game.
I was at the Boobie game – we were going crazy outside the arena afterwards
Boobie is now a coach for the Charge.
All time likable guy!
NOMAD bro.. that is just because you were nervous and had your chuck taylor’s on for good luck..
Good conversation starter by KLove … Top 5 Cavs games to watch as a fan (not counting the obvious Game 7 Championship) 1) Spida-game 2) Kyrie’s 57 against the Spurs 3) The three-point aerial assault against the Hawks in the 2016 playoffs 4) Bron and Kyrie’s 41/41 game 5) And honestly, I always loved Game 6 of that 2016 series. We were in total control that game, GS didn’t have the no-Draymond excuse, and it was the first time I thought, hey wait a minute, we can actually win this thing. If you count pre-Love years, then obviously Bron’s statement… Read more »
Also when Delly was on the ground, and a guy tried to step on him, and Delly somehow trapped his foot with his feet, and acted like nothing was happening as he got picked up. I assume that is some kind of rugby move.
Is Delly playing this year?
Sacramento Kings…
Taj Gibson
Highlight of that season IMHO.
I agree. Go Cavs! Now, to just see what this team can be like fully healthy.
Go Cavs!