On December 15th, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that two of their starters, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley were going to miss some time. Garland broke his jaw and would miss about four weeks (it has gone longer than that) and Mobley needed a procedure on his knee and would miss about six weeks.
At first thought, it appeared this would ruin the season for the wine and gold, perhaps causing them to miss the playoffs. Instead, the Cavs have flourished, winning 13 of 17 since the injuries.
They have taken advantage of a bit of a soft schedule. They’ve played only two games against the “elite” teams in the NBA, and both were against Milwaukee, who played without Giannis Antetokounmpo in the first one, a Cavs’ win. Only six of the contests have been on the road, not counting the game in Paris.
Cleveland has lost just two of those road games.
By the way, that’s not a criticism of this 13-4 stretch. If you are scheduled to play a bunch of mediocre teams, we would rather have you defeat those teams than lose. The Cavs simply took care of business.
They’ve changed their style of play, shooting more three-point shots, shooting 42.5 per game compared to 33.1 per night before Garland and Mobley were injured. The organization is trumpeting a new style, but really, it’s the emergence of Sam Merrill, who has become a rotation mainstay, averaging 13.5 points per game.
Merrill is taking 8.7 three-pointers per contest and is knocking them down at a 43.4% clip.
We also don’t want to forget the defense has picked up greatly since the two starters went out, surprising because Mobley is one of the league’s best defenders. Perhaps the players and coaching staff turned up the defense because of the offense they figured to miss in having two of their three top scorers out of the lineup.
A big question for us is what happens when Garland and Mobley return. With the heater the Cavs are on, we feel like it is up to them to fit in with the new, successful style of play, that is as long as it is working.
For Mobley, that would seem to involve staggering time with Jarrett Allen and not having them on the court as much. And once J.B. Bickerstaff starts substituting in a given game, he kind of does that anyway.
And if you have a lead late, you want both Allen and Mobley on the court because of their ability to defend, even out on the floor.
Also, Tristan Thompson’s suspension does open some minutes in the frontcourt.
Garland would seem to have to make a bigger adjustment. First, he has played 20 games this season and had five or more turnovers in seven of them. By contrast, Donovan Mitchell, who has become the primary ball handler with Garland out, has played in 32 games and has had five or more turnovers just five times.
We would say the ball should be in Mitchell’s hands and Garland should play off him. And Merrill should not lose any playing time due to Garland’s return. He’s earned playing time even with the roster being complete.
How Bickerstaff handles this could be his defining moment as coach. Cleveland’s next three games are against three very good teams, two vs. Milwaukee and then a home game against the 28-14 Clippers.
If this new style and new rotation continues to work, the proverbial ball is in the court of the players returning to the lineup. They have to go with the winning flow.
And don’t forget the trade deadline is two weeks from today.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 