The Wine and Gold have struggled out of the gate to start the 2023-24 season with a 2-4 record but looked to start their turnaround against their old nemesis, the Golden State Warriors Sunday evening at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Familiar faces got things going for the Warriors early as Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green combined for 16 of Golden State’s first 20 points.
For the Wine and Gold, it was the new faces that kept them neck and neck as Georges Niang and Max Strus connected on 3 three-pointers and Coach JB Bickerstaff was glad to see his team at nearly full strength for the first all season.
“It's basketball, reality is where we live and in basketball reality, nothing happens overnight,” said Bickerstaff. “This is the second game that we had our starting lineup on the floor. The big guys even met their own minutes restrictions still. So it's just going to come down to us getting the reps and continuing to play together. And we're only going to get better.”
However in the 2nd quarter it was the Cavs’ high-scoring backcourt who took over as Donovan Mitchell tallied 17 points and Darius Garland chipped in 15 to build a 57-45 halftime lead. Mitchell was very complimentary of his backcourt mate when talking about Garland’s play Sunday night.
“It just creates more open looks, makes the game easier for everybody. That's who he is and we've missed that throughout the first few games and it's good to see him getting back to it,” says Mitchell. “Creating shots for not just myself so I think the biggest thing now just continue to build on that momentum, a lot of positive things now he's going to continue to build on it.”
The two sides traded blows in the third, much like their Finals’ matchups of the past. The Warriors kept coming as Steph Curry started to cook with 12 points in the 3rd but the Cavaliers hung tough and took a 86-77 lead into the fourth. The defense led the charge for the Wine and Gold and Bickerstaff knows that will have to be the case for the Cavs to have success this season.
“I mean, it's who we are, and the core of our group and any success we have starts with the defensive end of the floor,” said Bickerstaff. “That's the mindset that we have, we have to get stops, and whatever energy we expend on the defensive end, is going to transfer to our offense. Our mindset is get as many stops as we can, be physical, be scrappy, and just have that grit and toughness to us, and then give the offense a chance.”
In the final stanza, the Cavs clamped down on Golden State in a way they haven’t been able to most of the early season as they opened up a 14-point lead and secured a 115-104 win thanks 31 points from Donovan Mitchell, 23 from Darius Garland, 15 points from Max Strus, and a double-double from Evan Mobley with 13 points and 15 rebounds.
“The Warriors are really good basketball team, you can't take anything from them, they put a ton of pressure on you, but I think we're really good basketball team also,” said Bickerstaff. “We just have to stay home and get reps together. Look at the talent, look at the skill set, the ability to get stops when we need to and we can be a dynamic team but again this is a process for us and we're going step by step.”
“At this exact time last year, we went to their place had the same situation and that we gave up the lead so that's growth in itself, not just from a team standpoint, but individually, doing different things and growing,” said Mitchell. “We continue to build, continue to win games in these rough environments and these early tests are going to help us come down a lot. This is what we're going to see. And now that we're learning these lessons, turn losses into wins, we'll continue to learn these things and get better as the year goes on.”
The Cavs look to build on their success from Sunday night’s win over the Warriors as they head west Wednesday and take on the Thunder in Oklahoma City and again against Golden State Saturday on the road in San Francisco.