CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Monday afternoon, the Cavaliers boarded a charter flight to Brooklyn for Tuesday night’s game with the Nets.
Seeded eighth, the Cavs will get two chances to move on to the Eastern Conference playoffs this week – with a win over Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and the Nets Tuesday or Friday night at home against the winner of the Hawks-Hornets game to be played Wednesday night.
“We have an understanding of who they are,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.
Despite the injuries that led to a tailspin down the stretch, the Cavaliers attained their preseason goal of at least qualifying for the Play-in Tournament.
Cleveland enters the Play-In Tournament having lost nine of their 12 games, but a blowout of the Bucks backups Sunday afternoon secured their spot in the 7 vs. 8 game. The Nets beat the Pacers to lock up the seventh spot.
“I think we have a real good understanding of who we are,” Bickerstaff said. “We have an understanding of what it takes for us to win, the level that we have to play at. For us, there’s been a lot of moving parts lately. I think we found a little bit of consistency here but obviously [we’re] still missing a couple of key pieces, but I think we understand who we are and what it takes for us to have to win.”
Cleveland has had 13 players miss games due to injury this season forcing Bickerstaff to put 28 different starting lineups on the floor.
Despite the adversity the rash of injuries brought, the Cavs are finally out of the draft lottery having improved by 22 games in the win column – the second-best season-to-season improvement in franchise history.
“We believe we can beat anybody in this league,” Bickerstaff said. “We just have to play our best basketball. We know what we’re facing. We have a ton of respect for Brooklyn. We have a ton of respect for those individuals, their coaching staff, but we just want to go play our best.”
Bickerstaff is doing what he can to explain to his team the adversity that awaits Tuesday night – and going forward should they advance.
“It’s being able to handle adversity and compete when the unexpected happens,” Bickerstaff said. “That’s what the playoffs [are] about.
You don’t know what’s going to happen or unfold. You don’t know the situation that you’re going to be in, especially for our young guys who have never been part of it before. Being able to have the discipline, the togetherness, and the composure to go to the level that we need to go to and do what we do because it’s not going to be you watch what Kevin Durant and Kyrie do. This has to be what Darius Garland does. What Evan Mobley does and what the Cavaliers do.”
Brooklyn won three of the four meetings between the two teams this season.
On the surface, the combination of Durant and Irving can feel daunting.
The duo combined for 54 points in a 118-107 victory over Cleveland April 8 that saw the Nets outscored the Cavs in the fourth quarter 35-19 to secure a win.
“We have that familiarity with them,” forward Kevin Love said. “We know what they are capable of especially with their two superstars that they have but I like our chances when it comes down to a dog fight and that’s what it’s going to be Tuesday night.”
Mobley believes playing the Nets recently helps their preparation.
“We know their scheme and how they’re going to guard us and how we’re going to guard them,” Mobley said. “I feel like it plays to our advantage [having] played them recently.”
Love knows exactly what the Cavs are in store for this week and possibly the weeks to come, but explaining it is much easier said than done.
“Just play free,” Love said of his advice to his younger teammates. “Understand the level of physicality is going to be heightened and there’s nothing quite like being in a playoff atmosphere and experiencing that. You don’t know it and you don’t understand it until you go through it.”
Outside of having to sit out due to COVID, Love played every other game this season and is a candidate for the Sixth Man of the Year award after averaging 13.6 points and 7.2 rebounds coming off the bench.
After dealing with injuries the past few seasons and struggling to cope with the organizational rebuild in a second post-LeBron James era, Love takes satisfaction in playing in 74 games.
Helping lead the Cavs back to the playoffs is the cherry on top and he’ll get that opportunity this week.
“I’ve played in a few Game 7s,” Love said. “Evan [Mobley] was in last year – it’s crazy to say this – but March madness. It becomes a one game type of scenario so this will be very interesting to play in, at least for me, for the first time but I think it’s a great opportunity for us to make that next step in our evolution.
“It’s nice that we’re here and we have that opportunity, at the very least twice to get the job done and get where we want to be, but that level of understanding of schemes and physicality and personnel is going to be even heightened.”
The plan – and hope – for the Cavs against Brooklyn is to prevent the Nets from running out in transition and force them into a half-court game.
“You have to maintain your composure,” Bickerstaff said. “We’ve seen this team come back from 15 down, come back from 20 down to go and get a win. So, understanding how much time is actually in the game and being able to take advantage of that and not feeling like there’s a weight on you to do so much and hit a home run every possession. This game is going to come down to the singles and who makes the least amount of errors.”
If the Cavs can slow the game down Tuesday night, their chances of winning increase exponentially.
“When we make it a half-court game defensively, especially when we get back, we build walls,” Love said. “Ev’s holding down the middle, Lauri’s in there being seven feet tall playing big and we have Isaac playing off [the] ball, it makes us that much better defensively. We’ve been very good wen we’ve been able to set our defense.”
The regular season was one step forward. A win this week would be another.
“For us to get the experience at the very, very least in a seven-game series and to feel what that’s like as a group, I think it would be paramount for where we want go moving forward,” Love said.