Close Games Equals More Burden On Guardians’ Bullpen

The Cleveland Guardians have played 36 games this season and a whopping 22 of them have been decided by two runs or less.

Cleveland is 8-9 in games decided by a single tally, and 5-2 in those decided by a couple of runs. Overall, the Guardians are 13-11 in these games and 4-8 in the other contests.

First, all of these close games are going to give a collective ulcer to the die-hard fans of the team.

Second, playing this many close games means it will be interesting to see what kind of toll it will take on the pitching staff, particularly the bullpen.

We know that Terry Francona has sort of the “caste system” for his relief pitchers. When the Guards are in the lead, he prefers to use James Karinchak, Trevor Stephan, and now that he is back, Sam Hentges to set up closer Emmanuel Clase.

He uses Eli Morgan with a lead if one of the above needs a day off. He will use Nick Sandlin and/or Enyel De Los Santos after that group. That’s his current arrangement.

But in checking the American League leaders in appearances, you will see that Clase leads the league pitching in 20 of Cleveland’s 36 games and Karinchak is tied for second at 19.

Stephan is 21st appearing in 16 contests.

With the Guardians treading just below the .500 mark early in the season, we understand their need to put as many games in the win column as they can, so Francona wants to use his best guys, and maybe the best closer in the league to lock down a W.

And despite Clase’s “struggles” this year, this shows how good he is. He hasn’t pitched at the dominant level he did a year ago so far, but he still has a 1.86 ERA, allowing just 15 hits and five walks in 19-1/3 innings. Oh, and he leads the AL in saves with 13.

Clase led the junior circuit in games pitched a year ago with 77, but right now, he’s on a pace to pitch in 90 of them. Now, we know that’s not going to happen, and Clase is also pretty economical in the number of pitches he throws. In his last five appearances, he’s thrown no more than 13 pitches.

Two things need to happen if the Guardians keep winning. First, it would be a huge help if they could win games by four or five runs over the next few weeks. That would enable Francona to lessen the workload of his primary bullpen guys, using them just enough to keep them fresh.

Adding Hentges to the mix has helped lately.

Or the skipper may have to expand the late game usage for pitchers like Sandlin and De Los Santos. We understand though they have to earn the confidence of the manager. Sandlin, in particular needs to command the strike zone and throw quality pitches.

The starting rotation seems to have picked it up over the last couple of weeks, covering at least six innings on most nights. But playing this many close games will take a toll on the Guardians’ relief pitching.

Just another reason to hope the offense comes out of the collective funk it has been in over the last four weeks.

Cavs Need Size, Can They Add It?

We understand basketball has morphed into a kind of positionless sports over the last ten years. No longer do a lot of team use a traditional center, power forward, small forward, shooting guard and point guard.

For example, the traditional point guard, think of a guy like Andre Miller or Mark Jackson, who is a distributor, scoring only when he has to. The point guard position today is for guys like Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, and even Darius Garland, guys who can stretch the floor with long range shooting and pass as well.

Despite the change in the sport, it is still a game where size matters. The three finalists for league MVP were Joel Embiid (7’0″), Giannis Antetokounmpo (7’0″) and Nikola Jokic (6’11”).

Unfortunately, the Cleveland Cavaliers have not following that trend.

Sure in 2021-22, J.B. Bickerstaff famously starting a front line of 6’11” Jarrett Allen and a pair of seven footers in Evan Mobley and Lauri Markkanen, but the only other players who received significant minutes that were over 6’8″ were Kevin Love and Dean Wade.

But Markkanen was moved to get Donovan Mitchell and was replaced in the starting lineup by 6’5″ Isaac Okoro. So, while the Cavs still have Mobley and Allen, they are undersized at the other three spots on the floor with both Mitchell and Garland being listed at 6’1″.

By contrast, let’s look at the highest remaining seed in the East, the Boston Celtics. They start a pair of guards both taller than the Cavs’ starters in Derrick White (6’4″) and Marcus Smart (6’3″). They aren’t as tall up front overall, but Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum kind of alternate on the wing and they are 6’6″ and 6’8″.

Al Horford is only 6’9″ at center, but there two most prominent reserves are Malcolm Brogdon (6’5″) and Robert Williams (6’10”).

And it is not just about height either. The Knicks’ Jalen Brunson is listed at 6’1″, but he’s thick, burly if you will. And he just overpowered both of the Cavs’ starters who are listed at the same height.

Same among the big men. Mobley and New York’s Mitchell Robinson are both listed at seven feet, but Robinson is a bigger player. And to be fair, Mobley is only 21 years old and we have no doubt he will get stronger as he gets older.

Against New York, Bickerstaff’s tallest reserves were 6’6″ Caris LeVert and 6’7″ Cedi Osman. The Knicks used former Cavalier Isaiah Hartenstein (7′) and also Obi Toppin (6’9″).

When you think about it, the only position where the Cavaliers are bigger than the norm is at power forward with Mobley.

The biggest challenge for Koby Altman this summer is to get bigger. First of all, the coach has gone on record saying he prefers bigger players. He needs to get a useful big man off the bench, one who can play and be effective when Allen and Mobley are resting.

We find it funny when folks want to trade Allen this off-season. If you do that, then you are short two big men.

And if you are going to continue to use a smaller backcourt, the wine and gold need to get bigger reserves. Having LeVert is good because they can play him with either Mitchell or Garland and have some size, particularly because the former plays bigger than 6’1″.

But you also need a small forward taller than Okoro or LeVert. It’s tougher to shoot over players taller than you than it is to do against smaller players.

Size still matters in the game of basketball even in today’s era. One step for the Cavs to be better next year is to get bigger.

That’s step one.

Sputtering Offense Plaguing The Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians’ offense started off this season much like they ended last season. Not a lot of home runs, but a lot of base hits.

After Seattle’s Luis Castillo, one of the best pitchers in the game, held them to four hits in the season opener, the Guards had nine hits or more in six of the next nine contests and drew at least three walks in all of them.

In the next 23 games, Cleveland has had nine hits in just six games, and drawn at least three walks in just a dozen of them. When you aren’t hitting home runs, and Terry Francona’s squad is last in the American League in round trippers, if you aren’t getting men on base consistently, it is tough to have people cross the plate.

The Guardians averaged five runs per game in the first 10 games, since then, they’ve scored just 70 runs, an average of just over three per contest. It’s tough to win any games at any level, when you are getting just three runs per night.

Cleveland was 6-4 after ten games, and just 9-14 afterwards.

Bill James contended if you had a .350 on base percentage and a .450 slugging percentage, you were a very good offensive player. Not even Jose Ramirez can lay claim to those statistics, although he is close, with a .371 OBP and a .447 slugging average.

The Guards only have one hitter getting on base at a 35% clip and that is Steven Kwan, who has a .358 on base average. Besides Ramirez, they don’t have anyone even close to the .450 slugging percentage. The next closest is Mike Zunino at .397. More about him later.

Looking at the Guardians from a WAR standpoint, Zunino’s slugging is about all he is contributing as once again, Cleveland catchers rank last in the AL in this category.

Guards’ pitchers were 11th in the AL in wild pitches a year ago, and they are 2nd this season. And the catchers are second in the league in passed balls behind only the White Sox.

Also, Zunino’s back up, Cam Gallagher is just 2 for 27 with a bat in his hand, with two RBI, both coming in the first week of the season in Oakand.

The next worst position this year for Cleveland is shortstop. Amed Rosario is a slow starter, hitting .177 in April 2021, and .211 in April 2022. This year was no different as he batted just .227.

However, his strikeout rate is the highest since his rookie season (28.7%), and he’s leading the team in grounding into double plays, which he did a year ago. He’s also leading the Guardians in errors with six.

Hopefully, Rosario will start to get hot in May and resemble the hitter he was last season. He’s never going to walk a lot, but he did have 180 hits last season, and with the new rules aiding the running game, his speed could be an asset.

Remember, the Guardians went through a 13 game stretch at the end of August through early September a year ago where they scored just 26 runs. Hopefully, they will come out of it any day now.

The starting pitching seems to have come along with the starters consistently giving the team at least five innings. That has lessened the burden on the bullpen, which is still leaking oil a bit.

You know what would really help the pitching? Getting some runs early and then adding on.

Can’t Argue Browns Draft Picks At Least Make Sense

For more years than we care to remember, the NFL Draft has been sort of the Super Bowl for Browns’ fans. With the trade for Deshaun Watson last year, the front office decided to pretty much do the same thing the organization has done with the championship game, that is, sit it out.

We also feel that some Browns’ fans watch the selection process and feel that every player picked by the team’s divisional rivals are destined to be inducted in Canton someday, while Cleveland’s picks will never pan out.

That’s what three winning seasons in the 21st century will do to a fan base.

We aren’t going to sit here and pretend we know how the players the Browns just selected will turn out. That can’t be done for several years. What we can comment on is whether or not the picks make sense.

And quite frankly, we don’t have any beef about the players making any sense.

Yes, you can argue about the lack of linebackers, a position group the Cleveland front office seems to not value, and we can see the point of the discussion. They did sign Utah LB Mohamoud Diabate after the draft to a guaranteed deal.

Their first selection at pick #74, WR Cedric Tillman battled injuries last year, but in 2021 he caught 64 passes for 1081 yards and 12 touchdowns for Tennessee. More likely than not (and draft experts agree), he would have been drafted much higher had he been healthy in ’22.

Stopping the run was a problem for the team last year and they did address the situation in free agency by inking Dalvin Tomlinson, but they added a defensive tackle that should help in 6’4″, 358 pound Siaki Ika out of Baylor.

We don’t think you can ever have too much depth at certain positions on the football field. Teams should always be looking at players who can get after the opposing quarterback and also guys who protect the passer. And like pitching in baseball, you can never have enough cornerbacks.

GM Andrew Berry addressed those spots as well, drafting a pass rusher in Isaiah McGuire from Missouri, and two Ohio State offensive linemen in T Dawand Jones and C Luke Wypler. Jones is intriguing just by his size, listed at 6’8″ and 350 pounds, but likely more than that.

If offensive line coach Bill Callahan works his magic with Jones, Cleveland likely has found its ultimate replacement for Jack Conklin.

And they also added another corner, Greg Newsome’s former teammate at Northwestern, Cam Mitchell.

We would guess the pick debated the most is the selection of UCLA QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson in the fifth round. No problem here, we kind of agree with former Green Bay GM Ron Wolf in believing a team should take a quarterback every year.

Josh Dobbs is Watson’s back up in the short term and we would guess Thompson-Robinson will compete with Kellen Mond to be the long-term guy.

And best-case scenario is one of those QBs has a great exhibition season and a desperate team offers you a draft pick for him. It could even be better if Watson misses a game or two (that’s not the good part) and the substitute plays great in the regular season game.

You just never know.

You also won’t know about this draft for a few years. One thing we do know is that Berry is going to have to make some tough decisions this upcoming season on players he selected. For the first time, he will have to cut a few of them it would seem.

Comments About Altman’s Comments

Friday morning, Cavs’ basketball head honcho Koby Altman had his post-season press conference and essentially said there wouldn’t be a lot of changes in the off-season. Let’s hope this is just front office speak.

Yes, the Cavaliers won 51 games this past season, the most won in the post-LeBron James era for the franchise. However, a closer look at the team shows there are a lot of areas where the wine and gold need to improve if they want to make a deeper run in next season’s playoffs.

Altman went out and got a star last off-season, trading most of the Cavaliers’ assets for Donovan Mitchell, thus giving the team four all-star caliber players along with Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley.

It was a great move. Mitchell will likely be first or second team all-NBA. But now Altman and GM Mike Gansey need to focus on spots #4 through #10 on the roster.

We would guess there will be a priority to bring Caris LeVert back. LeVert is the only player besides Mitchell and Garland to be able to create his own shot, and he showed he can be a solid defender and good passer.

The Cavaliers need more “basketball players” on the second unit. What we mean by that is players who can do a little bit of everything, like LeVert.

Right now, after the five players already mentioned, it feels like the balance of the squad is made up of one-dimensional players.

Isaac Okoro and Lamar Stevens are defenders, providing little on the offense end. Ricky Rubio is a playmaker. Dean Wade? He’s supposed to be able to provide outside shooting, but frankly, we’ve said all year he’s probably better defensively than people think, and not as good of a shooter as purported.

Cedi Osman is the closest to having an all-around game, but it seems like the coaching staff has very little confidence in him.

And without a doubt, Cleveland needs some shooters. The playoff series vs. the Knicks begged for someone, anyone to be able to make an outside shot consistently. Danny Green was signed on the buyout market and contributed one made three-point shot.

They also need size, and need size that can play in April. The last two years, the front office offered Ed Davis and Robin Lopez as reserve big men. Neither contributed much on the court. Altman and Gansey must get at least one big who can spell Allen and Mobley, and we would get two.

Basketball is still a sport where size matters, and J.B. Bickerstaff, who loves size, shouldn’t have to play Osman or Green at power forward in a playoff game.

From a coaching standpoint, Bickerstaff needs to do something differently offensively. Mitchell came into criticism for the post-season performance and to his credit, he owned up to it, but what did the coaching staff do to get him open looks? Opposing teams don’t guard Okoro, but the Cavs keep putting him in the corner to shoot threes.

That’s exactly why they don’t guard him.

They also don’t really have a plan for Mobley and Allen on the offensive end.

The defensive mindset is great, no question about it, but the Cavs only scored 100 points once in the series, the game they won. And the trio of Mitchell, Garland, and LeVert took 63% of the shots Cleveland attempted.

FYI, the Knicks top three in shots taken (Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, and R.J. Barrett) took 58% of their shots.

There is very little movement off the ball for Cleveland. It’s pick and roll or bust. And we know that’s what the league has become, but there has to be some alternatives.

If Altman went before the media and promised big changes, the speculation would be running rampant already. He has to know the Cavaliers have to get better in 2023-24, and that will be difficult with no changes on the roster.

First Checkpoint For The Guardians

Tomorrow is May 1st, and yesterday evening, the Cleveland Guardians played their 27th game of the season, the 1/6th point of the year. That’s the time we take our first overall view of the team.

Under Terry Francona, this first part of the year is the “feeling out” period. Look at Cleveland’s record at this point over the last six seasons:

2023: 13-14
2022: 13-14
2021: 14-13
2020: 17-10
2019: 15-12
2018: 15-12

The best record came in the pandemic shortened season of 2020. It’s an old baseball adage that you can’t win a pennant (now, post-season berth) in April, but you can lose one, and the Guardians certainly don’t screw up a season at the beginning.

So far, it’s the offense that hasn’t lived up to expectations. The Guards are currently 12th in the American League in runs scored at 3.85. The home run power, which the front office tried to address with the signing of Josh Bell, hasn’t materialized yet, as Cleveland ranks last in the league in round trippers.

What the Guards do well is walk, ranking second in the AL in bases on balls. They are 8th in on-base percentage, and 13th in slugging percentage. They get doubles and triples but no long balls.

Individually, only the great Jose Ramirez and Mike Zunino have performed up to expectations with the bat. The latter has struck out a ton, as advertised, but he’s walked a higher rate than ever.

Steven Kwan has gotten on base (.358 OBP), but so far, he hasn’t driven the ball, with only four extra base hits (three 2B, one 3B).

The players counted on for middle of the order production have all got off to slow starts. Josh Naylor is hitting .214 with 3 HR and 15 RBI (619 OPS). Bell is at .214, 3 HR, 13 RBI (714 OPS), and Oscar Gonzalez is at .188, 1 HR, 4 RBI (509 OPS) and is now sharing time in right field with Will Brennan.

Naylor is starting to look like a platoon player, going 2 for 22 vs. southpaws this year and his career mark vs. LHP is .199 with a 538 OPS. Unfortunately, right now the Guardians don’t have a right-handed hitting alternative.

The pitching ranks 7th in ERA, but the starting rotation has been riddled by injuries to Triston McKenzie and Aaron Civale. McKenzie has been out all year, while Civale has made just two appearances.

Compounding the injuries has been the relative ineffectiveness of Cal Quantrill (1-2, 5.40 ERA) and Zach Plesac (1-1, 7.59). Quantrill has made two solid starts, but also two poor ones, while Plesac has just one good one, his second outing vs. Seattle.

On the year, he has pitched 21-1/3 innings, and allowed a whopping total of 37 hits and 18 earned runs.

Last week saw the promotion of two of the Guardians’ top pitching prospects, lefty Logan Allen and right-hander Tanner Bibee. Both pitched very well, and if they continue to do so, the organization is going to have to make a decision.

The strength of the team has been pitching and the rotation is the backbone. Francona depends on the starters to eat innings, lessening the burden on the relief corps. The Guardians need Quantrill to pitch like he did a year ago, and Allen and Bibee to hold down the fort.

The ‘pen has been sporadic, but over the last week have started doing better. They have been allowing too many home runs. James Karinchak in particular has struggled, but Eli Morgan has pitched like he did early last season.

The Guardians need to get the offense going more consistently and have the starters pitch much better. It’s still early and history says Francona’s teams get better as the year goes on.

Hopefully, history repeats itself.

Can The Cavs Respond Tonight?

A week and a half ago, basketball fans in northeast Ohio were excited about the Cavaliers. They won 51 games and had homecourt advantage in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Things can change drastically in ten days, right?

Tonight, the Cavs are playing for their playoff lives, down 3-1 to the New York Knicks with a possible elimination game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

Can the Cavs come back and win the series? Our first thought is no, because New York has exposed the weaknesses the Cleveland roster has, namely a top-heavy roster that provides little depth.

One issue we don’t think J.B. Bickerstaff can address is the lack of a third big man who can get on the court. We aren’t going to re-hash the whole Kevin Love situation again, but the real issue is Koby Altman and Mike Gansey did not replace Love with another serviceable big. So, when Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley are on the bench, the Cavaliers really have no big bodies to replace them.

We say it all the time, yes, basketball has changed. The smaller players do have a bigger impact on the game right now, but never forget that size still matters. You have to have size to win, and beyond Allen and Mobley, the wine and gold don’t have enough.

Bickerstaff needs to pull out all stops tonight, he really has nothing to lose. The Knicks primary offensive threat is Jalen Brunson, and the Cavs best success against him is to guard him with bigger people, which we agree with.

Brunson is simply too strong for Donovan Mitchell or Darius Garland.

We believe you have to use Isaac Okoro on him with Caris LeVert and Lamar Stevens also taking turns guarding him. Stevens hasn’t played real minutes in the series, but we think he has to be on the floor tonight.

We have heard many folks complaining about Mitchell’s performance on Sunday and about Allen’s play in general. We agree Mitchell played poorly, but think about it, what did the coaching staff do to help him?

The Knicks are trying to take Mitchell away from the Cavs, and that’s good strategy, he’s their best player, but the Cavs’ staff have to figure out a way to get the All-Star guard some good looks, perhaps with some off-ball screens to get some shots in the paint so he can get in a rhythm early.

As for Allen, he is having problems defensively, but mostly because he is helping with players who are penetrating, and he’s done that all year. He either needs his teammates to keep their men in front of them or somebody to pick up his man when he helps.

That isn’t happening.

Offensively, the Cavs really don’t do much for Mobley or Allen. When the Knicks’ trap out front, the middle is open and that’s where Mobley can help. Get him the ball there and he can either attack the basket or set up a lob for Allen. But really, the Cavaliers don’t ever make a reasonable effort to establish either on the offensive end.

We would go back to starting Okoro, and use LeVert, Osman, and Stevens off the bench. That’s it.

Again, it is a tough road for the Cavs to win this series, but they need to extend the series back to New York to gain some respect among the basketball cognoscenti.

The flaws were always there, they are just being exposed now.

More On Guardians’ Bullpen And Arias

The good news for the Cleveland Guardians last week was when they played one game in a day, they were undefeated, going 2-0.

However, because of our beautiful springtime weather, the Guards were forced to play two doubleheaders and were swept in Detroit by the Tigers and at home by the Marlins.

The offense was the main culprit as in the five games played prior to Sunday’s 7-4 win over Miami, Cleveland scored a total of nine runs. It’s hard to win averaging less than two runs per contest, but the Guardians did it once, winning the series finale in Motown, 3-2.

The pitching hasn’t been bad, allowing 20 runs in the six games, just a shade over three per game. So, as has been the case in pretty much every game in 2023 thus far, the result of the game was in doubt all the way to the bitter end. Only the 6-1 loss in game one Saturday was not in doubt when the ninth inning started.

Home runs continue to be a problem for the bullpen crew, as both Trevor Stephan and James Karinchak gave up solo shots in the win over the Tigers and the latter served up a three-run bomb on Sunday to make what was a commanding 6-1 advantage into a close game.

Cleveland pitchers have allowed 21 homers this year, and a dozen of those have been served up by the relievers. The only bullpen members who have been unscathed by the long ball are Eli Morgan and Enyel De La Santos.

There was some good news as southpaw Sam Hentges made two rehab appearances in Akron last week and is getting closer to returning to the big league roster. That’s needed as rookie Tim Herrin hasn’t been effective, allowing two dingers and four walks in his eight innings of work. He has a 7.45 ERA.

Karinchak has allowed four bombs in 12 innings of work, and probably will not be used in the eighth inning until he cures that issue.

Here’s our current bullpen confidence rankings–

Clase
Stephan
De Los Santos
Morgan
Karinchak
Sandlin
Curry
Herrin

Sandlin gets ranked lower because he still has control issues, walking five in 9-2/3 innings and he seems to fall behind in the count an awful lot.

Hopefully, the offense will continue to come out of the doldrums, but one player who worries us right now is infielder Gabriel Arias.

Arias has always had strike zone judgment issues in the minors, his career numbers in 494 minor league games are 539 strikeouts vs. 145 walks, and he wasn’t outstanding at AAA, a 768 OPS.

However, thus far this season, he’s made 40 plate appearances and has struck out in 18 of them, drawing four walks. He’s batting .167 (6 for 36) with a home run and a double.

We understand it is difficult for a young player to adjust to not getting regular playing time, but that’s the lot he drew with the Guardians. Terry Francona has tried to spot him vs. lefties, but he is just 4 for 24 with 13 Ks against them.

If he was hammering southpaws, we are sure Francona would be more anxious to put him in there against left-handers, particularly because Josh Naylor is a career .202 hitter (544 OPS) against them.

It will be interesting to see if Tyler Freeman, who was up for a handful of games last week (2 for 7 with a walk), starts getting some time at 1B in Columbus to see if he can take Arias’ spot on the roster.

A tough gauntlet is coming up for the Guards, a weekend series in Boston and then a trip to Yankee Stadium before coming home for a clash with the division contending Twins.

We will learn a lot about this year’s group in those nine games.

Once Again, The Cavs Have To Dig Deep.

The Cleveland Cavaliers seem to relish a challenge, especially in their first-round playoff series against the New York Knicks.

They blew the home court advantage they gained with their 51 regular season wins by losing game one at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, and after a win to even the series, they put the pressure firmly on themselves this afternoon by getting smoked at Madison Square Garden Friday night, losing 99-79.

It was the lowest point total of the year for any NBA team.

Both teams struggled in the first quarter which ended tied at 17. Jarrett Allen was outstanding, making all three of his shots, grabbing three rebounds, and blocking a shot. On the negative, Darius Garland was awful, missing eight shots, including four three-pointers.

That was followed by a 15 point second quarter. Cleveland was 2 for 19 from beyond the arc at the half, and to us, the crazy stat was that those 19 attempts were almost one-half of their field goal attempts (43).

The Knicks started knocking down closer shots and led by 13 at the half. The wine and gold actually outrebounded New York before intermission26-24.

In the second half, only Caris LeVert (7 of 11, 3 of 7 from three) and Donovan Mitchell, who was 5 of 11 in the first half, and made half of his eight shots in the second, were able to put the ball in the basket.

Coach J.B. Bickerstaff did change the starting lineup, moving LeVert in, replacing Isaac Okoro, but that left the bench with no weapons. The non-starters, excluding garbage time, took just seven shots, making two.

We said (before the game) we would have started Danny Green if he was going to make a change, but frankly, we would have just stayed with Okoro. And although we are usually critical of Okoro, we thought Bickerstaff didn’t play him enough. He was making an impact when he came in during the first half, but only played seven minutes until the game was decided.

Before the series started, we noted Cleveland needed at least one reserve to play well. In game two, LeVert did. With him starting, they need all five starters to produce. They didn’t.

We mentioned earlier that Allen took three shots in the first quarter, making all of them. Unfortunately, those were the only three he took all night, as the Cavs decided to ignore going inside.

Why is that a problem? If you aren’t going to look inside, Evan Mobley only had 10 shot attempts as well, it allows the Knicks’ big men, mostly Mitchell Robinson to have no real defensive responsibility. Robinson was able to block a Mitchell jumper in the first half.

After the game, Bickerstaff said the Cavs had open looks, they just didn’t make them. To us, that’s a rather simplistic view of the game of basketball. True, the wine and gold shot just 38.8% from the floor. But if a team takes a lot of poor shots, they will probably shoot a poor percentage.

Bickerstaff keeps talking about his team’s inexperience, and they haven’t grasped that in the playoffs, every possession is important. You cannot have 20 turnovers, and bad shots are pretty much the same as a turnover.

Here’s what we mean by a bad shot. At the end of the first half, the Cavs were down 40-32 with :40 remaining. They had a chance to keep it close going into the half.

Instead, Mitchell took a three with plenty of time on the shot clock, missed it, and New York came down and hit a three. Then another turnover and a Knick hoop and the Cavaliers were down 13 at the half.

In our mind, Mitchell’s shot is only good if he makes it.Today’s game is the turning point. If Cleveland wins, they regain homecourt advantage and come home with two of the remaining three in downtown Cleveland.

Can the Cavs adjust? Can they get someone out of their bench? Can Garland rebound from a terrible game? The answer to those questions has to be yes.

JB Makes Changes, Cavs Win Game Two

The Cleveland Cavaliers needed a win badly Tuesday night and they got it, evening the series with the New York Knicks at one game apiece with a 107-90 victory at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

The wine and gold showed toughness, especially on the glass, outrebounding New York a few days after the Knicks dominated on the glass.

And J.B. Bickerstaff totally changed his rotation, benching Ricky Rubio and Dean Wade, both of whom contributed little in game one, and pretty much went with seven players in the win. We don’t know how sustainable that will be going forward, but it worked in Game 2.

Darius Garland was phenomenal shooting the ball, making six of ten from three-point range, scoring 32 points, 26 of them in the first half. In the early moments of the game, Garland was very careless with the ball, seeming to want to make the spectacular pass rather than the right one.

He corrected that issue by just making a bunch of shots.

Donovan Mitchell became the playmaker, dishing out 13 assists to go with 17 points. There is no doubt the Cavs will need Mitchell’s scoring ability before this series is over, but with the Knicks trying to double him when they could, he simply made the right basketball play over and over again.

Caris LeVert was skewered by many fans after the first game, but he has been so solid over the second half of the season, we figured he would bounce back, and he did, scoring 24 points, grabbing four boards, and dishing out three dimes, as well as hounding Jalen Brunson all night.

He played a team high 40 minutes.

Cedi Osman didn’t shoot the ball well, but played solid defense and grabbed six rebounds, behind only the Cleveland big men, Jarrett Allen (10) and Evan Mobley (13).

We are critical of Bickerstaff at times, mainly how he judges the talent of his players, but it took guts to not play Rubio and make the decision after Dean Wade’s poor first half in game one, not to give him any time during game two.

But the shocking move was with Isaac Okoro. Okoro started and picked up two fouls in the first three minutes on the floor, was removed from the game and never returned. Was his knee acting up again? After all, he did miss the last two weeks with an injury. Still, we were stunned he never went back in.

Instead, Bickerstaff went with veteran Danny Green at the #4 spot. Green only took two shots, making one, but the defense has to guard him, and they don’t do that with Okoro.

We expect the Knicks will try to exploit Green defensively as the series goes on. Quite frankly, having Green guard Julius Randle is not a good match for the Cavs, but the element of surprise worked for Cleveland.

So, the series goes back to Madison Square Garden for games on Friday and Sunday and the Cavs need to win one game in New York at some point if they want to win the series.

As mentioned earlier, the Cavaliers are going to need quality minutes from players not named Mitchell, Garland, Allen, Mobley, and LeVert if they are going to prevail. So, there will be opportunities for guys like Okoro, Rubio, and Wade to help.

They have to come through because you can’t keep playing seven players.

It worked in game two, and it had to. Going down 0-2 at home would have spelled a quick end to the Cavaliers’ season.