Game Night Observations: Osman's big night, more stars resting, and a peek at the standings
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Danny Cunningham covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for 850 ESPN Cleveland and thelandondemand.comThe Cleveland Cavaliers played what amounted to their second “get right” game in the last three contests, beating the LA Clippers 122-99 on Sunday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The best news of the night was that the team had All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell back in the lineup for just the second time in the last seven games as he has been battling a left groin strain. Mitchell’s health moving forward may be the most important thing for the Cavs. When he plays, the team is 27-15, compared to 4-5 when he doesn’t.
Mitchell scored 11 points in 20 minutes on Sunday and didn’t play the entire fourth quarter. He checked out with 3:17 remaining in the third quarter and was finished for the night.
They were going to be lighter,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of the plan for Mitchell’s minutes on Sunday. “But obviously we weren’t expecting them to be this light, but he was gonna be lighter a little bit no matter what.”
A night like this one is certainly a good thing for the Cavaliers overall, but having this game as a way to ease Mitchell back in off an injury rather than needing him to play close to 40 minutes in a tight game is a good thing.
Cedi Osman’s big night
It was Turkish Heritage Night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and Cedi Osman certainly celebrated as such with one of the best nights of his career.
Osman, who is also a member of the Turkish National Team, finished the game tying his career-high of 29 points and was a perfect 7-of-7 from beyond the 3-point arc. Even if it came on a night where the Cavs didn’t need that type of boost, Osman being able to connect from outside on this type of volume was a good sign for Cleveland.
“I mean, I'm not gonna lie, I felt that everything – even if I shot from the halfcourt – I thought it would just go in,” Osman said. “That's how I was feeling. It was a great feeling.”
Osman had a crack at eclipsing his career-high and finishing with his first 30-point game in the NBA but missed an 11-foot runner with 50 seconds remaining as the team elected to take a shot clock violation on their final possession instead.
Right now, it appears that Osman’s spot in the rotation is relatively solid with forward Lamar Stevens as the odd man out. This was with Kevin Love still inactive due to a back injury. When Love returns, it will be interesting to see how much time Osman gets, if any. Without Love, the Cavs played nine guys in the first half. It’s certainly possible that the Cavs settle on a regular 10-man rotation, but it’s very difficult to envision it being any larger than that.
There could be nights where Stevens is used instead of Osman, based on specific matchups, but the energy that Osman brings off the bench on most nights he plays is something the Cavs need, and it’s a specific type of energy that largely seems unique to Osman.
“You know what the energy does when Cedi, whenever he gets in the game, the energy just increases to a really high level and that's what it was tonight,” point guard Darius Garland said.
Cleveland, the place to get some rest
It’s hard not to feel bad for some fans attending games this season at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The Cavs have done nothing wrong and have been one of the better teams to watch. Their 21-5 record at home proves this.
Most nights, fans are leaving the venue with a smile on their faces because they saw the Cavs win a basketball game.
There have been too many nights this season where fans have come to the arena disappointed because they didn’t get to see the players they anticipated seeing. Sunday night was another example of that as LA sat both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George after the team played on Saturday night in Atlanta against the Hawks.
Leonard and George join an illustrious list of Western Conference players that haven’t played when their team made its way to Cleveland for the one and only visit of the season. Los Angeles’ Anthony Davis only played the first eight minutes due to an illness, Dallas’ Luka Doncic rested, Portland’s Damian Lillard was injured, as were Phoenix’s Devin Booker and New Orleans’ Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram. Last homestand for the Cavs featured a Golden State Warriors team that sat Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins for their only trip to Cleveland.
Every organization has its own set of goals and standards. For many teams, there are bigger picture things to worry about than potentially losing a game in Cleveland on the second night of a back-to-back. The Clippers, for instance, want to win a title with this group of players and clearly feel the best way to do that is by keeping their star players as fresh as possible for the postseason. That means not playing Leonard on the second night of a back-to-back and being cautious with George after he had an injury earlier this year. That’s their prerogative and they have to do what they feel is right for the franchise.
It's just a bummer for fans who spent money on tickets planning to see stars on opposing teams and arriving at the arena disappointed.
Where they stand
We’ll do this about once a week for the rest of the season, but with the Cavs now more than 50 games into the season it’s worth doing a bit of scoreboard watching across the rest of the NBA.
They’re currently 31-21 on the season and sit in fifth in the Eastern Conference, trailing fourth-place Brooklyn by a half-game and Philadelphia and Milwaukee (tied for second) by three games. The Cavs hold a 2.5-game lead over the Miami Heat for that fifth spot after Sunday’s results that included a Miami loss in Charlotte.
Most importantly for the Cavs, there is a 3.5-game gap between them and the New York Knicks, who sit in seventh. Avoiding the play-in this season should be among the minimum goals for the Cavs.
Cleveland’s next game, on Tuesday night at home against Miami, is a big one in terms of playoff positioning. It’s a little odd to say that about a game in January, but a win by Cleveland on Tuesday would push their lead over Miami out to 3.5 games and it would give the Cavs a split of the season series, at minimum. That could be a big deal in terms of a tiebreaker for a playoff seed at the end of the regular season.
