2 weeks Ago By Sam Amico, Hoops Wire
Random dribbles from the Cavaliers’ 127-122 home over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday. ..
. 1. The Cavaliers needed a game like this.
Not just the win, though that was nice. They needed a playoff-type atmosphere, a few obstacles to overcome throughout, and to play with some toughness. 2.
All of those things happened. And now the Cavs (60-15) have 60 wins in a season for just the third time in franchise history. 3.
Let’s start with that. “I didn’t expect 60 wins,” first-year coach Kenny Atkinson admitted. “My internal goal was, ‘Can we improve on last year?’ We can still add to that, it’s not the end goal — but we should take a breath and celebrate this.
It’s hard to do in this league.” 4. It is quite an accomplishment.
It shows just how well things have gone this year. It shows that the hiccups in March were exactly that — hiccups. This game proved that.
5. Granted, the Cavs didn’t win in blowout fashion. The Clippers were missing star forward Kawhi Leonard (knee).
But throw all that out. What matters is that this looked like the Cavaliers we saw during earlier winning streaks of 15, 12 and 16 games. They looked like the Cavs we’ve grown accustomed to seeing most of the season.
6. As Donovan Mitchell said, “For us, it was kind of getting back to what we do.” 7.
It was also a bit of a rollercoaster. The Cavs led by 17 points in the first half. Then by just one in the second half.
Then by 17 again at the end of the third quarter. And you guessed it — the Clippers made another run in the fourth. But not tonight.
Mitchell and the Cavs finished the job. 8. Before we go further, let’s get this out of the way: Most everyone was very good.
Some guys were excellent. Jarrett Allen was amazing with 25 points on 11-of-12 shooting and 12 rebounds. Mitchell scored 24 and grabbed 12 boards himself.
Evan Mobley scored 22 and Darius Garland had 19. 9. So yeah, the Cavaliers’ Core Four led the way.
“It’s really just doing whatever it takes to win,” Mitchell said. 10. Added Atkinson: “I felt like tonight we were more focused.
The compete level was higher. The physicality was higher.” 11.
So, what do we mean by rollercoaster? Well, let’s start at about the 2:10 mark of the fourth. That’s when Garland hit a floater to put the Cavs up 122-111. It felt like that all but sealed.
12. And if not then, certainly when Allen followed with a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar -like hook shot over Clippers center Ivica Zubac . 13.
Moments later, the Cavs swiped the ball away on a Norman Powell drive. Mitchell dove to the floor, grabbed the loose ball, and called timeout. Only 50 seconds remained and the Cavs were up 124-117.
14. But nope. Still not over.
Mitchell lost the ball on the ensuing possession and Clippers guard Kris Dunn hit a 3-pointer to make it 124-120. Still very close. But finally, with 13.
5 seconds left, Garland buried a pair of free throws for the final margin. 15. Along with scoring and rebounding, Mitchell did an excellent job of leading the way in the intangibles department.
He directed the offense. He found the open man. He seemingly made every last hustle play.
16. Atkinson on that fact: “You can talk about it, but you have to back it up — rebound, physicality and compete level. When your leader takes the lead (in those areas), that’s why we have 60 wins.
I’ll throw in the other guys, too. They weren’t losing this game today.” 17.
Allen struggled against Zubic in Los Angeles 12 days ago. He had his way this time. “I feel like I wasn’t aggressive enough in that game,” Allen said.
“So this time I attacked every time I could.” 18. Maybe now, with back-to-back home games for the first time in more than a month, and a couple of days off, the Cavs can build off this win.
March is over for them. Seven games to go. 19.
The lead over Boston for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference is back to 4.5 games.
Atkinson said that’s never been the end goal. “The first priority is playing well and having everybody healthy,” he said. “If the No.
1 seed comes with that ...
” Well, then great. 20. Mobley and others said they received a pep talk from Atkinson recently.
“It was good,” Mobley said. “He was definitely right. Everyone has to pick up our competitiveness heading into the playoffs.
” 21. The Cavaliers are off until Wednesday, when they host the banged-up New York Knicks. A win will all but wrap up that top seed.
“Keep playing like we did tonight,” Mobley said of the secret sauce. “That’s how you win games, win championships.” Box Score | Cavs 127, Clippers 122 This article first appeared on Hoops Wire and was syndicated with permission.
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