CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t pretty, but the Cleveland Cavaliers handled their business Wednesday night.
Behind another 30-point performance from All-Star Donovan Mitchell that saw him score 21 in the second half, Cleveland rallied for a 108-105 win over the Chicago Bulls at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse for their 18th victory in their last 20 games.
Here’s our top Wine & Gold Nuggets from the unofficial first half of the season finale.
Comeback kids – The Cavs trailed by as many as 17 in the second quarter and did not take the lead until early in the fourth. “It's never going to be easy,” Mitchell said. “I think the biggest thing is just finding a way.” But as has been the case this season, they didn’t pack it in when it would have been easy to, especially heading into the All-Star break, which is why they are 36-17 and No. 2 in the Eastern Conference. “It was bumpy, but throw the injuries in and later in the season, but guys never found a way to jump off the boat regardless of what was happening on the outside and what was being said,” Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of the first half of the season. “Guys showed up every single day, committed to working and figured it out. Figured out what Cavs hoops is and how we play it and how we're different than other places and they just continued to buy into each other and just watching them embrace each other's successes.” It was the second largest come-from-behind win of the season trailing the December 27th victory at Dallas where they trailed by 20.
The MVP – Mitchell tallied his 19th game with at last 30 points this season while coming away multiple steals in a game for the 26th time. Mitchell finally received chants of “MVP!” from the crowd. “I appreciate it, man, always,” Mitchell said. “I work my butt off to try and be the best player I can be for this group. And it's translating [which is] the biggest thing now. It's just continuing to play this way. But to have the support of not just my teammates, the organization, but the fans and doing all that, man, it means a lot. You never get old, and as a kid, you visualize that at the free throw line. You visualize that many times sitting in your driveway. So to be in a real NBA game, doing that on a consistent basis and hearing that, it's awesome.” Mitchell, who is off to Indianapolis for the weekend festivities, added seven assists, six rebounds and made 12 of 13 free throws. He has 13 games of at least 30 points, five rebounds, and five assists this season.
Evan almighty – Evan Mobley hit another three in the first quarter, and he is now 8-13 from beyond the arc since February 3. “I feel like me knocking down the first few in this stretch that I had really boost my confidence and from there I've just been letting them fly and they've been going in,” Mobley said. Adding the three to his repertoire is something Bickerstaff has been preaching to the former No. 3 overall pick for multiple reasons, including to stretch the floor and create another perimeter threat opponents have to respect. “Evan Mobley is a complete basketball player,” Bickerstaff said. “He makes the right play. I've said this before, he could be the most impactful player on the floor and score six points. That's how good Evan Mobley is, and I think that's what we need to focus on and appreciate that the shot making, all that stuff, don't get me wrong, it's part of his game, but he can dominate games in so many different ways and that's the player that we want him to be.” Mobley, who finished with 14 points and nine rebounds plus a block and steal, appreciated the compliment from Bickerstaff. “Him saying stuff like that definitely helps me with my confidence, makes me want to take more shots and go out there and do what I do,” Mobley said. “I feel like I affect the game in many ways – defensively, offensively as well as passing, playmaking, a lot of things, so it's not just scoring and the three pointer.”
Offensive Okoro – Isaac Okoro doesn’t get much love for his offense, but Wednesday night he deserves some. Okoro knocked down four threes, tying a career-high, off the bench and finished with 16 points. “Isaac was awesome, again,” Bickerstaff said. “I can't tell you how much I appreciate what he does every single day because he doesn't change no matter the circumstances, no matter what's in front of him. He's the same person every single day. He's the same competitor every single day. He's an unbelievable teammate that's willing to do whatever the team asks him to do on any single given night. He works his tail off every single day. You see the impact that it's had on his game, and he's just continued to take steps regardless of what people say about him. They want to talk about his limitations, he finds what it is and he works his tail off on it and he continues to get better and better.” Okoro constantly gets the toughest defensive assignment, and he did all he could to keep DeMar DeRozen from going off. DeRozen finished 9-16 from the field and scored 24 points. “I take pride in my defense,” Okoro said. “I mean that's my primary role on this team is to defend first, offense comes second, but my prime role is just lock teams up, the team's best player up and I'm going to continue to do that.”
Niang v. White – Georges Niang and Bulls guard Coby White got into a disagreement in the fourth quarter that saw officials and coaches from both teams rush to separate them. “At that moment in the game, I'm not going to back down from anything and neither is he,” Niang said. “That's just how basketball is. So it happened. Obviously, the refs addressed it and we moved on and we ended up winning. That's all I really care about.” Niang, who later fouled out, was charged with a personal foul for bumping White and both players were charged with a technical for the kerfuffle. Niang gave the Cavs their first lead of the night, 79-78, with just over 10:30 to play by hitting a three. White led all scorers with 32 points for the Bulls.
Back and forth 4th – The final quarter was a seesaw affair that saw seven lead changes and nine ties.
Starting 5 – Bickerstaff went with Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen Monday night.
