Cleveland, Ohio - After having their 15-game winning streak ended in Boston, the Cavs bounce back and dominate the New Orleans Pelicans as they cruise to a 128-100 victory
The Cavs hosted the New Orleans Pelicans for the second game of a back to back following their loss to the Boston Celtics Tuesday night.
The Cavaliers vs Pelicans was more of a battle of the bruised and injured. The Cavs were without Darius Garland (groin soreness), Caris LeVert (knee inflammation), Isaac Okoro (ankle sprain), Dean Wade (ankle sprain), Sam Merrill (ankle), Emoni Bates, and Max Strus (ankle sprain).
The Pelicans' injuries were plentiful and affected their most important players: Zion Williamson (hamstring), Brandon Ingram (bilateral ankle strain), Trey Murphy (hamstring), CJ McCollum (abductor strain), Jose Alvarado (hamstring), Jordan Hawkins (back), Herb Jones (shoulder), Dejounte Murray (hand surgery) and Jaylen Nowell (not traveling with team).
With Garland out, the Cavs inserted Ty Jerome and rookie Jaylon Tyson (his first career start) into the starting lineup.
Tyson was a late addition to the starting lineup and Coach Atkinson gave all the credit to his coaching staff for the adjustment
"I'll give our assistant coaches credit. They really pushed to put him in the starting lineup, and I was fighting, and I said, wait a second. You know, he hasn't really played at all. I was pretty unsure. And they pushed and pushed. I was in the elevator with DeMarre Carroll, and he goes, 'we got to start Jaylon because it's important for a young guy to be around vets to start.' And I thought that was great. That's why you have a staff. And it's a great suggestion. That really helped him get off to a good start."
When asked pregame, Coach Kenny Atkinson said this kind of game will test their depth and he likes games like these.
“It tests our depth. Again, we're going to go deeper, and… personally, I like games like this. It tests your whole roster and also gives opportunity [to] guys that have been really working their tails off. Working their tails off in G league practices extra work group. So I'm really anxious to see how some of our young guys play.”
Coach Atkinson was rewarded after rookie Tyson scored 5 first-quarter points as the Cavs built up an 9 point lead that the Pelicans whittled down to 5 by the end of the quarter.
The second quarter turned into the Ty Jerome show. Jerome made his third 3-pointer of the quarter to give the Cavs a 54-43 lead. The following possession, Jerome, feeling hot, missed his next 3-pointer, which had the arena ready to explode.
Jerome wasn’t finished, over the final 2:56 of the first half, Jerome scored 11 points, including three more 3-pointers, including 2 from beyond 30 feet. By the time Jerome hit his second and third 3-pointer, the crowd was hysterical.
Jerome finished the first half with a career-high 27 points and shooting 7/10 from behind the arc. He ended the game with 29 points.
Aside from their potent offense, Jerome pointed to the teams maturity for pulling out a win under these circumstances.
“It was huge for us. That's like that's a testament to our maturity, especially Evan [Mobley] and J [Jarrett Allen], how they started the second half, blocking every shot, grabbing every rebound, just completely dominating the game. And just said, All right, we're gonna, you know, pull gonna pull away, and this game's over. So definitely a testament to our majority as a group and their majority,”
Despite Jerome’s offensive explosion, the Cavs only held a 6-point 69-55 lead going into halftime.
The first half was relatively quiet for Donovan Mitchell, he had 9 points on 4/7 shooting.
While the Cavs have struggled in third quarters of the past, tonight did resemble on of those performances. The Cavs began the first 6 minutes of the quarter with a 19-5 run to push their lead to 88-60.
The Cavs’ defense was on full display, they held the Pelicans to just 30% shooting in the quarter and generated 5 points off 3 New Orleans turnovers.
Your third-quarter stars were Jarrett Allen and Georges Niang as they combined for 23 points in the period. Allen, after achieving his 200th double-double of his career against the Celtics Tuesday night, tallied another by the end of the quarter with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Niang had the shooters touch going ⅘ from behind the arc and nailing both of his free throws.
Niang finished the game with 20 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.
The 4th quarter started with most of the bench and young guys getting their chance to shine. With the Cavs leading by 32 entering the final quarter, Coach Atkinson went with most of his bench squad to close the game.
Luke Travers, JT Thor, Jaylon Tyson, and Craig Porter Jr all started and played the entire fourth quarter with veteran Tristan Thompson.
Rookie Jaylon Tyson finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. While the rookie wants to play more but he understands it about staying a professional.
“Obviously, I want to be out there, but I understand, we got a veteran team, and we're winning games, so I can't complain. I'm sitting there winning games, hopefully get me a ring my rookie year, so I just look at it, just… it's a time of growth and being professional, and that's the biggest thing I've gotten out of.”
Georges Niang post game expressed how impressed with the playmaking skill the rookie displayed.
"I just think it's a credit to how he is as a player, he can kind of fit into anything and kind of knows his role. He came to the starting lineup and wasn't out there trying to make it about him. He was playing defense, sprinting the floor, taking layups and dunks, and being able to facilitate. I think that's the most impressive when you're a young guy, and you can come in and get five-plus assists in a certain period of time; that means you know what's going on and where to get the ball. And that was extremely impressive. So it was cool that he got to play with the core three, four, slash three."
JT Thor had a shining moment, scoring 12 points in the fourth quarter, and Luke Travers didn’t score many points and did have a +5 plus/minus for the game.
With so many injuries how did Coach Atkinson feel about his benches' performance?
"Super impressed. You know, you never know this is an NBA game. They have good NBA players on the other side. You're never sure. I was nervous as heck before this game. I said, I've seen these games lost, like I said, and for them to respond. Credit for our development group, because they work with the guys. They're doing a lot of the, you know, the stay ready, prepare. Great credit to our performance team that keeps them ready physically. It's tough. All of a sudden you're not playing, you're not playing. Boop. Thrown in. Now you're playing 37 minutes. So great. Really, really happy. Tristan, too, gets in there and performs well. I love games like this. Everybody on the roster gets involved. It's great for chemistry."
The Cavs improve to 16-1 on the season and play the Toronto Raptors at home on Sunday, November 20th.