Cavs Week In Review (or, Rounding into Form?)

Good evening CtB!

A Sunday evening retrospective for your reading pleasure…

1. Cavs 120, Hornets 104 (or, Rounding into Form?)

The Cavs played one of their best games of the season as they dominated the Charlotte Hornets in their own house 120-104 as basically the whole roster stepped up in the absence of Donovan Mitchell. Chef Caris LeVert cooked up an MVP performance with 22 points on 8/13 shooting, seven assists, five stocks, four rebounds, and a +25 plus/minus in a tidy 27 minutes of action. LeVert is blossoming at the perfect time of the season, showing his overall versatility with his defense, scoring, and playmaking. He probably hasn’t looked this good on a winning team since his early days with the Brooklyn Nets.

As ringleader of the pro-Caris agenda, it gives yours truly great pleasure to bask in the glory of LeVert’s balling exploits. His ability to take his man off the dribble and create a shot for Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen is precisely why I didn’t want to see him traded for a limited 3 and D player who can’t maximize Tower City on offense. What’s most beautiful about Caris’ game right now is how his elite perimeter defense is turning into confidence on offense. He’s focused on being the best defensive player he can be, and it’s spilling into full confidence in his shot and his decision-making with the ball.

It wasn’t just LeVert who was smoking Charlotte like some Carolina pulled pork. Evan Mobley led all scorers with 26 points on 10/15 shooting, and Cedi Osman was finally let out Coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s dawghouse to lead the bench with 24 points on 8/14 shooting and +11 plus/minus in 31 minutes of action. Bickerstaff also let Dean Wade out of his dawghouse and while he didn’t score, he was able to eat minutes for the shorthanded Cavs with a +6 plus/minus in 19 minutes. J.B.’s willingness to go back to Wade and give Cedi extended run in some small ball action is probably one of the most exciting developments regarding Bickerstaff’s rotation decisions. For the Cavs to reach their ultimate ceiling, Wade and Osman need to play and Bickerstaff has to loosen the leash and respect their contributions to team success this season. The Cavs are a +7.7 net rating whenever Cedi steps on the court, and they are a +6.9 whenever Wade steps on the court. LET THEM COOK J.B.!

One of the two of the quieter successes in the game at Charlotte was Darius Garland not having to shoulder such a massive load on offense. He was able to coast to a stress free 19 points and seven assists in only 28 minutes of action. The other quiet success was Ricky Rubio rounding into pre-injury form with 11 points, five rebounds, four assists, and a +8 plus/minus in 21 minutes of action. It’s been a massive struggle for Rubio to find his scoring form, but he’s clearly improving on that as the season goes along and if he finds his full pre-injury form, that will make the Cavs a very dangerous team in the postseason.

2. Adam Cathcart from the top rope!

Check out his excellent recap of the valiant effort (and ref-job) against Philly.

3. Wizards 94, Cavs 117 (or, Bench Bullies)

The Cavs took care of business at home against an inferior opponent by waxing the Washington Wizards 117-94. The only blemish on the game was the problematic starting lineup of Lamar Stevens and Isaac Okoro, both of whom failed to make the kind of impact that Cedi Osman and Caris LeVert made in their minutes off the bench. This was especially apparent in an ugly third quarter, when Stevens and Okoro failed to bring the energy on the defensive end and were functionally useless on the offensive end. When Osman and LeVert came in the ball moved a lot better (Osman four assists, LeVert three assists) and the defense was much more disruptive (Osman two steals, LeVert four steals and a block). In another sign of Coach J.B. Bickerstaff loosening the leash on his bench, he employed the services of one Mamadi Diakite to winning effect (+7 plus/minutes in 12 minutes of action). If one may recall, Diakite had several nice moments earlier in the season in late November. While Diakite’s minutes did come at the expense of the more proven Dean Wade, yours truly will take any shred of creativity on the margins from Coach Bickerstaff.

The meat and potatoes of this game was ability of Darius Garland and Evan Mobley to dominate the game. DG poured in 24 points, nine assists, and a +21 plus/minus in 37 minutes of action. Mobley at the center position was able to control the paint with 20 points, eight rebounds, four blocks, three assists, and a +16 plus/minus in 36 minutes on the court. Donovan Mitchell was also able to chip 20 points and six rebounds, but he’s clearly laboring with the finger injury, at times unable to dribble or finish around the basket with the injured hand. The Cavs need to find a way to nurse him back to health, including sitting him out some more games. The only thing that matters at this point is getting a fully functional Spida for the playoffs.

4. A DYLAN WINDLER SIGHTING

Dylan Windler hits the tough 3 to put the Cavs up 23 against the Wizards pic.twitter.com/uGQ737fP1B

— Main Team (@MainTeamSports) March 18, 2023

Yes that’s right, there’s been a Dylan Windler sighting in two games recently! And he looks healthy and in rhythm! Could this be a sign of things to come? Keep the faith Dylanheads!!!

5. Quick notes on Charlotte and Washington

What is there to say about these two pathetic franchises? The Cavs completed a teardown and rebuild of their team while Charlotte wallows in the basement of the standings and makes the “JailBlazers” of yore look like choir boys. Washington continues its somewhat amazing stretch of perpetual sub-mediocrity, and Bradley Beal is apparently comfortable going through the motions to never compete for anything meaningful from a team perspective. There should be a movement to relegate the Southeast Division to the G-League, my heart goes out to the long suffering fans of those teams.

5. Next up, Brooklyn for all the marbles…

The Cavs are currently enjoying a rare three days off before a two game road series against the current Eastern Conference sixth seed Brooklyn Nets. Even better, there are no more back to back games for the rest of the regular season. The Cavs obviously need to take care of business in the borough of Brooklyn, or else they put themselves in jeopardy of losing home court advantage in the first round. On the other hand, if they can take care of business there’s no chance the Nets can catch them in the standings leaving only the New York Knicks to fear. And oh by the way, the Cavs still have a game against the New York Knicks coming up at the end of March. The end of the regular season is just around the corner, and the Cavs have a very comfortable schedule and have a lot players playing their best basketball of the season, Go Cavs!

6. P.S. for Cavs’ fans worldwide…

Thanks to our friends at FOCO (Forever Collectibles) for sending us some Cavs gear and this unique Bobblehead featuring Donovan Mitchell in the City Edition Jersey!  For any sports fan looking for unique collectibles, check these guys out!