Time For Cavs’ Bench To Step Up

On February 13th, the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the San Antonio Spurs to extend their winning streak to seven games and raise their record to 38-22.

Since then, the Cavs have played six halves of basketball and of those six, one-third of them have bee ghastly.

The last game before the all-star break was against another Eastern Conference contender for a home court advantage spot in the first round of the playoffs in the Philadelphia 76ers, and the wine and gold were overmatched in the first half, trailing 63-38 at intermission.

The Sixers hit 8 of 15 three point shots, and the Cleveland bench plus Isaac Okoro shot 4 of 13 from the floor and hit a lone shot from behind the arc in seven attempts.

Cleveland rebounded to outscore the Sixers 74-55 in the second half, but Philly shot 5 of 12 in the second half from three-point range. The Cavaliers not named Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley scored six points on two of six shooting.

J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad played a more complete game at home against Denver in the first game after the break, but still dropped a game to the Western Conference leaders. But the Nuggets torched the Cavs from long range, hitting 17 of 36 threes, including 10 of 18 in the second half.

For the game, Cleveland hit just 6 of 26 long-range shots. The Cavs’ bench plus Okoro made just one three-point shots in nine attempts.

The Cavaliers went to Atlanta on Friday and laid another egg on the road, getting overmatched by the Hawks in the first half, heading into the locker room down 81-57. The bench bunch contributed just 10 points in the first half on 3 of 14 shooting and the Hawks made seven of their dozen three-point attempts.

For the game, Atlanta hit 15 of 28 from beyond the arc.

The Cavs have prided themselves on their defense over the past two years, but in the last three games, they’ve allowed 123 points per game and created a huge halftime hole for themselves in the two of those contests.

We have pointed out all season long that the Cavs’ recipe for victory is the “Big Four” to play well and have at least two players from the second unit have solid games. Over the last three games, they have gotten little from the substitutes.

Caris LeVert is the #1 reserve for Cleveland, but in the last three games, he has scored just 11 points total on 5 of 10 (1 for 6 from three) shooting. He has to score for the Cavs to be successful.

Dean Wade has five points taking just five shots. Okoro, who starts but isn’t one of the four principal players has 13 points on 4 of 12 shooting (2 of 7 from distance).

The best reserve has been Cedi Osman, who missed the Sixers’ game, but has averaged 7.5 points in the two others.

Somebody simply has to step up for Cleveland to win.

Another issue has been Mitchell’s long-distance shooting. Cleveland’s lone all-star shot 41% from distance through December but has hit just 33.5% since the calendar changed to 2023. We know he’s been bothered by a sore groin, but his three ball isn’t falling, he has to get to the basket more.

We understand how the regular season has very few games, but tonight’s is a big one for Bickerstaff’s club. They need a win and they’ve lost to the Raptors in all three games between the two teams.

The bench bunch has to get it going starting tonight. And the point guards need to get LeVert going early. The team needs his scoring and ability to create shots to be successful.