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Danny Cunningham covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for 850 ESPN Cleveland and thelandondemand.com. You can find him on Twitter at @RealDCunningham.
The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Indiana Pacers 115-105 on Sunday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to move one step closer to earning home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The win for the Cavs wasn’t one that was always pretty. In fact, it was one that was rarely pretty. For much of the first three quarters, the Cavs lacked the sense of urgency defensively they’re accustomed to having while seemingly being a tick off on the offensive end of the floor.
Maybe it was fatigue, which Donovan Mitchell spoke about after the game, maybe it was overlooking an opponent that’s in a free fall towards the bottom of the standings, or maybe it’s the team growing a little tired of games in which the result is largely inconsequential. No matter what it was, the performance wasn’t good enough for the first 36 minutes.
All of that excludes the play of Mitchell, though.
Mitchell lifted the team up offensively in ways that no one else seemed capable of for much of the night Sunday. He finished with 40 points – marking his third consecutive game with 40 or more points – including 17 in the third quarter when he kept the Cavs afloat.
There have been a number of times this season when Mitchell has sensed that the Cavs don’t have their best stuff offensively – for one reason or another – and he takes over the game on that end of the floor.
“Yeah I mean obviously he is a phenomenal scorer and an elite offensive talent. But he also has a good feel for the game and when it's time,” Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after the win. “And there's not many guys in this league that can have that feel and understanding and then go out and actually get it done.”
On nights like this one, it’s not necessarily just that Mitchell is able to put up a big number in the scoring column, but rather how he gets it done. He attacked Indiana’s defense in a number of ways. It wasn’t as if he scored 40 points because he lit it up from 3-point range. When needed to, Mitchell can strike a perfect balance as a three-level scorer. That’s what he was on Sunday. That’s what he’ll need to be in the playoffs, because there will come a time when the team needs him to carry them offensively.
“I could sense a little bit of fatigue through guys,” Mitchell said. “And part of being a young group and not really being in the playoffs, understanding that some nights there's really no room to be tired, even if you are, and that's nothing against everybody. And I was tired. We're all tired, but at the end of the day, just trying to be a spark and we responded.”
Dean Wade starting
The Cavaliers did have center Jarrett Allen back in the lineup for the first time in a week after he missed the previous two games with a groin injury. With Allen back, the Cavs opted to go extra large in the starting lineup for the first time in month by inserting Dean Wade at the small forward position.
Sunday night was the first time Wade started for the Cavs since Dec. 2. Wade left that game with a shoulder injury and missed the next seven weeks recovering from that and an ankle injury that occurred while ramping up for a return in early January.
“Trying to strike a balance with our starting group and our bench,” Bickerstaff said when asked why Wade joined the starting group. “Trying to make sure that there is a safety net as we work through the Isaac [Okoro] situation. Having somebody that's getting minutes in comfortable in that spot. And again, trying to put size on the floor so that we can improve defensively.”
It could make sense for Wade to be the starting small forward in Okoro’s absence (more on that below). He isn’t the most talented option, especially with how well Caris LeVert has been playing, but putting him into the starters role could allow the Cavs to keep the other parts of their rotation intact. When push comes to shove, the Cavs can close games with LeVert at the small forward alongside the four other starters. He’s found quite a groove in the role he’s been in for the last month, partially due to the consistency the team has found for him.
When the team needs energy off the bench, Lamar Stevens or Cedi Osman will be the answer. But in the starting lineup, Wade can provide solid defense and help the Cavs on the glass, too. Offensively, Wade can space the floor, even if he hasn’t been great lately. Before his shoulder injury, Wade was shooting 41.1 percent from 3-point range on 3.3 attempts per game. Since returning from that injury, he’s made just 28 percent of his threes. If he’s able to return to form from beyond the arc in time for the playoffs, that would be an added bonus.
Evan Mobley, defensive monster
Evan Mobley didn’t have a great night on the offensive end of the floor. He missed a number of shots that he’s consistently made throughout the season. It’s nothing to be alarmed at. It’s just one of those nights where things didn’t go his way. It happens.
Defensively, Mobley doesn’t seem to ever have nights like that. No matter who the opponent, no matter what the scheme, no matter which teammates are on the floor with him, Mobley is an absolute terror on that end of the floor. Sunday night was no different.
Mobley finished the night against Indiana with 14 points (7-of-17 shooting), 16 rebounds, four assists, and four blocked shots. It was Mobley’s eighth time in his last 14 games that he’s had at least three blocked shots. He’s blocked at least three shots in six of his last seven games, too.
There’s nothing he can’t do on that end of the floor.
Pacers rookie guard Bennedict Mathurin repeatedly sought out Mobley defensively in the pick and roll to get him switched for reasons unbeknownst to anyone. While the confidence Mathurin shows is admirable, the results were predictable. Mathurin missed all three shots he attempted on Mobley in isolation.
Sunday night, in so many ways, was yet another reminder that Mobley is already special on the defensive end of the floor and his ceiling is still nowhere in sight.
Isaac Okoro update
Cavs wing Isaac Okoro missed Sunday night’s game against the Pacers, the third straight contest he’s missed with left knee soreness. Previously, Bickerstaff had mentioned that Okoro’s injury was one that had been bothering him and flared up in the team’s win against the Houston Rockets last Sunday night.
Okoro wasn’t missed on Sunday night the way he was on Friday against the New York Knicks or even last Tuesday against the Atlanta Hawks, but the Cavs will need him back in top form when the playoffs arrive less than two weeks from now.
The Cavs haven’t put out a timetable for Okoro to return to game action. But each time that Bickerstaff has spoke about the injury, he’s mentioned that it’s been an issue causing pain to Okoro. It’s something that has been an issue for an unknown amount of time, but not to the point where Okoro needed to miss time.
“We need to get him built to a place better than he was,” Bickerstaff said prior to Sunday’s game against the Pacers. “If Isaac doesn't play, it's because he's in real discomfort. And so we got to make sure we're taking the steps to get him to a place of comfort and safety and that's more important.”
Prior to Sunday, Bickerstaff had previously mentioned that if Okoro could be playing, he would be. He’s not one to miss games, either. Okoro had played in every game this season prior to missing Tuesday’s game in Atlanta, and had missed just 20 games over the first two years of his career.
The Cavs really don’t have another wing defender that’s built in Okoro’s mold. Stevens is a solid defender, and LeVert has had a very good season on that end of the floor, but they’re built a little bit differently than Okoro is. He’s the best on-ball point of attack defender that the Cavs have. That’s something they’re desperately going to need in a playoff series against the Knicks and Jalen Brunson, who had 48 points against the Cavs on Friday night.
After Sunday’s game, Bickerstaff was asked if there was any concern that Okoro wouldn’t be able to return to action before the playoffs, which will begin on either April 15 or 16 for the Cavs.
“I don't have an answer for you right now to be honest with you,” Bickerstaff said. “We are trying to progress him, but we'll see what happens and we've always got to do, again, what's right by him.”