The
Cleveland Cavaliers Saturday night tipoff with the Chicago Bulls could’ve easily been chalked up as a scheduled loss. Cleveland was on the second night of a back-to-back, playing less than 24-hours earlier in New Orleans and during a seven-game stretch over the course of 11 days.
At times, they looked like a team that was exhausted and had nothing left in the tank, entering the fourth quarter down by five to a Bulls team that was hungry for a win. But suddenly the Cavaliers found new life and new legs, outscoring Chicago 28-15 in the final quarter to pull away late for a 97-89 victory at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The win streak now stands at six games, the second longest winning streak of the season for the Wine and Gold. The first five came much easier than the sixth, but Saturday night’s comeback win over the Bulls may have been the most impressive of this streak.
It can’t’ be understated the effort that it took to secure a win under such difficult circumstances. Cleveland trailed for most of the evening. It wasn’t until
Donovan Mitchell canned a three-pointer just over two minutes into the fourth quarter that the Cavs had a lead, their first since the opening quarter.
Mitchell led the way with 29 points.
Jarrett Allen had another double-double with 23 points and ten rebounds.
Darius Garland added 19 points and seven assists while
Evan Mobley scored 14 points.
It’s the second night of a back-to-back… so we’ll keep it short and sweet tonight
Five thoughts/observations from the Cavs 97-89 win over the Chicago Bulls.
- Cleveland held an opponent under 100 points for an NBA leading 19th time.
The Cavs are now 18-1 in those games. We know Cleveland is a defensive-minded team that likes to slow down the pace of games, but it really illustrates just how good the Cavs defense is.
- Home is where the heart is
With the a win over the Bulls, Cleveland secured their 24th home victory of the season and entered the game tied for the 2nd-most home wins in the NBA this season.
- The Cavs forced the Bulls into 23 turnovers.
Five of those came in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter as the Cavs were turning a five-point deficit into a 13-point advantage.
The Cavs outscored the Bulls 17-4 over those first-six minutes. Turnovers and rebounds played a key role in allowing the Wine and Gold to pull away. Cleveland out-rebounded Chicago 12-6 in the fourth quarter as Jarrett Allen pulled down four boards.
Donovan Mitchell- the closer, Darius Garland- the setup man
Mitchell played all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter and scored 12 of his 29 points in the final frame. He was a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe down the stretch, including a freebie courtesy of a technical foul on Bulls coach Billy Donovan.
Darius Garland also played all 12 minutes of the fourth, scoring seven points and a beauty of an assist to Jarrett Allen down low for an easy dunk.
Speaking of Jarrett Allen, how good has he been lately?
Allen has scored 20 or more points in four straight games now, after pouring in 23 points and pulling down ten rebounds. Saturday night was his sixth double-double in his last seven games. Cleveland is 19-6 this season when Allen records a double-double
The Cavs have done a tremendous job exploiting their size advantage lately and Allen has played a crucial role in that.
It’s difficult to figure out where Allen has a bigger impact, on the floor or in the locker room. But he’s been as consistent as you could ask for in both spaces.
And my god, is he a much-better fit as a big man than Andre Drummond?
Randy
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