No Mitchell? No Garland? No Problem For The Cavs As They Route Detroit
The Cleveland Cavaliers are on a streak right now we haven't seen since the LeBron James era. And don't look now, but that's exactly is waiting for them when the Wine and Gold touch down in Los Angeles for a Sunday afternoon matinee.
The Cavs ran away with their 7th straight victory on Friday night in convincing fashion, drubbing the struggling Detroit Pistons 112-88. Making the final score even more eye-catching is the fact that they did so WITHOUT Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell.
Cleveland now has its longest winning streak since the 2016-2017 season when the Wine and Gold rattled off 13 straight, from November into December. The 13-game spurt was also a franchise record.
Two wins against Eastern Conference contender Boston were impressive, but you could argue Friday night against the Pistons was the Cavs most complete game.
Even Raul Neto and Isaac Okoro posted double-digits against the Pistons. The Cavs led by as many as 30 and the outcome was never in doubt.
FINAL: Cavaliers 112 | Pistons 88
Donovan and Darius Sit Out
Following an emotional win over the Celtics on Wednesday night, Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff hinted that there might be some injury issues.
Donovan Mitchell landed on a Celtic player's foot and was favoring his left ankle. He never left the floor and play never stopped, but Bickerstaff said Mitchell would receive "treatment" following the game.
Darius Garland took a tumble into the camera row along the baseline while diving for a loose ball and came up hobbling. He hung back behind the play and walked it off during a Boston free-throw, but also never came out of the game.
The incidents seemed like a footnote as Garland and Mitchell carried the Cavs to a 114-113 win in overtime over the Celtics. Garland had 29 points and 12 assists in his first game back after a scary eye injury, Mitchell added points of his own and dished out six assists.
So when the team released the injury report listing both as "questionable" with ankle (Mitchell) and knee (Garland) issues, it seemed like a formality and the two would be in the lineup come Friday night. That is, until the Cavs rolled out their starting five for the night.
Mitchell and Garland were both absent. Caris LeVert manned the point. Isaac Okoro slid in as the shooting guard and Dean Wade stepped in at small forward.
It resulted in the Cavs sixth double-digit win of this seven game streak and punctuated just how deep this team really can be. Six different Cavaliers scored in double figures.
Have A Day Big Jay
With Garland and Mitchell shelved for the night, it seemed logical that the Cavs would rely on some combination of Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, Caris LeVert and Kevin Love to carry the offensive load.
Allen has been a walking double-double this season, coming into Friday night with five double-doubles in seven games. While he didn't post double figures in multiple categories against the Pistons, he narrowly missed while shouldering the burden offensively with 23 points and seven rebounds.
Allen helped the Cavaliers manufacture offense when their top two guards were out, generating second chance points, getting to the paint and putting the pressure on the Pistons defense.
The Cavs and Pistons played close in the first quarter before Cleveland kicked it into overdrive. The Cavs outscored the Pistons 33-18 in the second quarter to take an 18-point lead at halftime. Allen's 17 first-half points went a long way in driving that offense and were one shy of his career-high of 18, which he's accomplished twice.
Kevin! Where'd You Get All Them Dimes?!
Kevin Love was also instrumental. If Allen was the opener, Love as the closer. Love bounced back from a poor shooting night against the Celtics to dump in 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-7 triples.
He also dished out 10 assists, which ties a career high while pulling down eight rebounds. Seven of those dishes came in the second quarter alone and his total of eight assists in the first-half tied a career-high.
Love became the first Cavalier player to score 20 or more points, record 10 or more assists and have eight or more rebounds while coming off the bench. He played just over 23 minutes (23:26), which, according to Elias Sports, is the lowest of any player in the shot clock era to post those numbers.
Thirteen of his 21 in the second half as the Cavs avoided any second-half letdown and cruised to another double-digit win.
Oh Evan, Where Art Thou
For Evan Mobley's standards, he's been fairly quiet this season. The 2021 No. 3 overall pick has been good, absolutely. But we haven't seen many break-out games early in the season from Evan.
Part of this is the attention Donovan Mitchell is getting. We've all been focused on Darius Garland and his eye injury. Let's also not forget that Mobley missed significant time with an ankle injury in training camp that caused him to miss three of the Cavs' four preseason games.
The ankle injury prevented Mobley from staying in as good of shape as he normally might, specifically in a training camp that was designed to be hard from coach Bickerstaff.
Mobley erupted defensively Friday night, blocking EIGHT shots. We've come to expect an eye-popping block or two per night from Mobley, but eight blocked shots is impressive. He became the youngest player in Cavs history to have eight or more blocks in a game and was third behind Larry Nance (11) and Hot Rod Williams (9) for most blocks in a game.
Reigning It In From 3
In the last two games against Boston and New York, the Cavs have taken 50 and 39 threes, respectively. They shot just 28-percent (11-for-39 against the Celtics and reigned in 23 from deep agains the Knicks.
Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said there's no "sweet spot" for a number of threes the Cavs would like to have in a given night and that he was largely pleased with most of the shots taken because they were open.
Friday night the Cavs put up a much-more manageable 26 three balls and splashed 11 of them. Part of that is due to the absence of Garland and Mitchell, two of your best three-point shooters. But part of that is also Bickerstaff and company tailoring their game plan to meet the personnel on the floor that night.
Instead of popping off from deep, the Cavs worked in the paint, outscoring the Pistons 58-24 in the paint.
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