CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) — Following a 141-103 drubbing at the hands of the Boston Celtics on Sunday night, Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff challenged his team to respond against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The champs were in town, and so was The King. It was the second night of a back-to-back and their fourth game in six days
But resilience is a unique character trait and the Cavaliers possess it in immeasurable quantities.
To no surprise, the Cavaliers slugged it out with the Lakers, giving them everything they could handle in a 115-108 loss on Monday night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
“We’re a young team and really competitive,” Cedi Osman said following the loss. “We’re a team that’s not taking a step back, we just take a step forward. We knew it was going to be a tough game against the Lakers I feel like after the game yesterday we bounced back.”
After trading baskets early on, the Cavaliers led by six points midway through the first quarter. That’s when LeBron James was sent sprawling to the floor after taking a hard foul. The tumble apparently jolted James awake, because he went on a scoring tear, igniting the Lakers on a 28-11 run over the final eight minutes of the quarter.
“If you look at the box score, we did a great job against everybody. LeBron just had a hell of a night,” Bickerstaff said.
The Laker lead ballooned to 14 points in the second quarter, but when things appeared to be on the brink of spiraling out of control, the Cavaliers had an answer.
“I speak about (how) mature our team is, when we do fight against adversity and when we do make mistakes, we always find ways to come back and correct our mistakes,” center Andre Drummond said. “Obviously they’re the best team in the league right now, the defending champions and we gave them a run for their money.”
Osman hit a buzzer-beating three pointer as the Cavs drew within seven points at the half. Cedi lead the wine and gold on a 12-4 tear coning out of the half to take a 70-69 lead.
Heading into the fourth quarter, the Cavs led 89-87.
But then, LeBron happened.
James has taught many lessons in his 18-year NBA career. Monday night, rookie Isaac Okoro was at the front of the classroom as Professor James presented his latest chapter: 46-point outburst in his first game in Cleveland since 2018.
“It’s the experience of having to defend a guy who gets it all different ways. They pout him in the post, they ducked him in off cuts, they put him in pick and roll,” Bickerstaff said. “There are no possessions off for you when you’re defending a guy like that.”
If LeBron’s 17-point opening quarter was the opening act, his 21-point fourth quarter was the headliner.
“I feel like he was right there. He was contesting, he was fighting, That’s all you can ask,” Osman said. “Obviously LeBron is going to be LeBron. He’s going to make his shots. But when you look at Isaac, he’s going to compete all the time.”
But LeBron’s point total is to say nothing of Okoro’s defensive effort. Multiple times, particularly in the fourth quarter, Okoro was in perfect position. But James was locked in, hitting nine of his ten shots form the floor, and connecting on three of four from beyond the arc that included a deep bomb from
the Cavaliers logo near mid-court.
“I thought Isaac took the challenge and did a great job and challenged every shot. But at the end of the day, I think this is a great learning experience for Isaac,” Bickerstaff said. “You can watch film and watch ESPN as much as you want to, but until you get that up close and personal feel, you don’t really know.”
On a night where James described his return as “home cooking,” Bickerstaff was anything but pleased with the way his team was treated by the officials
“This game was not lost by our effort, it was not lost by our scrap,” Bickerstaff said. “I think it was some momentum changing calls that were made or weren’t made.I think our guys showed up and gave the effort to deserve the respect that both teams should garner. Tonight I don’t think that was the case.”
While the Cavaliers may have bounced back, the result wasn’t what they wanted.
“It’s hard to overcome the champs, plus.”