2023-24 Season | Game #58 | Cavs @ Bulls | Feb. 28, 2024 | 8:00 p.m.

[Mcreek]

Allen will be sitting on ice after tonight

4 rebounds for soft shell Allen

 

[Smooth]

• JB Bickerstaff made some slight changes to the rotation in the third quarter, taking out Allen at the first sub and leaving Wade in to cover for Niang’s typical third quarter minutes. Niang didn’t see any minutes after half time.
• The adjustment worked. Wade was key with some good individual defense on DeRozan. In that time, the Cavs went from down three to up three heading to the fourth quarter.
• Wade does such a good job having the strength to fight through screens and stay steady against scorers while having the lateral agility to stay with them off the bounce and the patience to not go for shot fakes. It really created issues for DeRozan.
• The start of the fourth is when you thought the Cavs might finally pull away. They came out on an 8-0 run and the Garland-Okoro-LeVert-Wade-Mobley lineup went a +7 in their minutes. The Wade-Mobley lineup is one we’ve been wanting to see, and it worked out in this instance.
• Then came the Mitchell and Allen stagger and that lineup quickly posted a -5. This forced the Cavs into a timeout and the Cavs were up five at this point.
• Coming out of the timeout the Bulls went on an 8-3 run to get within one under two minutes.
• Up until this point, Mitchell was not himself. He had as many turnovers (4) as field goal attempts in the second half, and Ayo Dosunmu was giving him problems all night. Crunch time was not any kinder to Mitchell.

RCF RECAP
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[Don-no-vann!]

What was wrong with Donovan? He was continually giving up the ball and just standing around. Zero energy. But he makes that second free throw at the end of regulation I think it was or end of first OT and that was the game.

 

[Pierre Pan]

Vucevic and Drummond combined for 41 points and 39 rebounds. They kicked Allen's butt. Jarrett had 11 points and just 4 rebounds in 34 minutes. On top of that Allen committed the dumbest foul I've seen this year on DeRozan. Allen is 6'11', Rosen is 6'6". Just put a hand up and make him force up a 3. Allen just blundered into him. I have no idea what he was trying to do. The Cavs had a foul to give so he may have been fouling him on purpose, but DeRo was already into his shot.

Mitchell fell apart at the end. With 1:38 to go in regulation he threw up a 3-point airball off a spin move. With the score tied and 18 seconds to go at the end of regulation he lost the ball on his dribble, depriving the Cavs of a chance to hit a game-winning shot. At the end of the first OT he missed a free throw that would have given the Cavs a 4-point lead with 13 seconds to go. Then he missed a 15-foot jumper to win at the end of the first OT. He also had five turnovers.

The good news was Garland hit seven 3's. It looks like he's got his legs back and his confidence from deep. Unfortunately, he got blocked about four times on layups. He needs to go back to the one-footed floater. But it's great to seen him knocking down 3's again.

A rookie from Turkey named Bitim, who had not scored a point in his 6-minute NBA career, had 10 points on just four shots. He made two key free throws at the end. DeRo made all three of his after Allen fouled him. But Mitchell missed the one he needed to make.

Every time the Cavs have the ball with the shot clock off at the end of a quarter Garland dribbles down the clock and misses a 3-pointer. Anybody else getting tired of that?

I edited your post to be in 100% agreement with it…and to add several comments.

It was an uncharacteristically bad game from JA and it was a dreadful foul. It seems that the Cavs commit way too many boneheaded fouls; I recall many ridiculous fouls from LeVert last year on 3-point shots but he seems to have averted those so far this year; but both Mitchell and Garland had a few fouls tonight that were simply the result of defensive laziness.

It was one of Mitchell’s least inspired performance of the year . You pointed out all of his mistakes at the end but he committed a few head scratching / careless turnovers with no one pressuring him; 2 that come immediately to mind was that floor length pass which seemed to occur because he was too lazy/ tired to run up the floor…and one pass to LeVert on the side which was some ridiculous flick of the wrist with no care for the possession.

Mitchell had trouble all night getting to the rim and even by Dosunmu, who was all over him. Dosunmu’s quickness and length stymied Donovan more than I’ve ever noticed but that was somewhat compounded by Donovan’s lack of energy and engagement throughout.

Loved that DG took 3-pointers without much hesitation and found the range; likewise, for the most part (often at JBB’s urging) got the ball up the floor more quickly; of course that derailed somewhat in late stages of the game. However, his drives to the basket have become futile….lost count on how many attempts were blocked and the one floater he took almost went over the backboard due to his fearing another block. Teams seem to be elated to have him dribble drive knowing that his size and strength are so lacking that he almost has to try and give the ball up or else it will result in a block or turnover .

Like yourself, I’m so tired of how Garland and Mitchell both just dribble down the clock late in games.

 

[Pierre Pan]

What was wrong with Donovan? He was continually giving up the ball and just standing around. Zero energy. But he makes that second free throw at the end of regulation I think it was or end of first OT and that was the game.

I’m still having a hard time getting a handle on it

 

[Jake]

Well we can't blame this loss on LeVert.

 

[Jscc]

What was wrong with Donovan? He was continually giving up the ball and just standing around. Zero energy. But he makes that second free throw at the end of regulation I think it was or end of first OT and that was the game.

LeBron did this all the time while he was here. Being the team offense is draining. Especially on a physical back to back.

 

[Peacedog]

One person responsible for this embarrassing loss. Donovan Mitchell. End of story.

Did you see DeRozan calmly get up to the free throw line and swish 3 consecutive free throws, all needed? Cool as a cucumber. Impressive.

 

[Peacedog]

LeBron did this all the time while he was here. Being the team offense is draining. Especially on a physical back to back.

Please. He didn't expend much energy in the game because he did very little. Stop with the excuses. It's just one game, but our superstar sucked ass last night and cost us a win.

 

[buzzdog]

What was wrong with Donovan? He was continually giving up the ball and just standing around. Zero energy. But he makes that second free throw at the end of regulation I think it was or end of first OT and that was the game.

I'm speculating here, but Mitchell did miss 2 games after the AS break with an undisclosed illness, and he hasn't quite seemed himself ever since. I assume the back to back combined with him working himself back into shape contributed to his lack of energy and his legs turning to mush from the 4th quarter on.

Garland had a great shooting night until the tail end of the game. I assume his legs also turned to mush towards the end of the 4th quarter. It still hasn't been that long since he lost a lot of weight and conditioning. He has lost a half a step of burst and quickness since he returned, and he can't get the first step on any defenders since then. It's affecting his ability to attack and finish in the paint. Lots of his shots getting blocked, he's not getting his usual separation.

Then add in the fact that some players partied after the Dallas win. This is one reason I wanted Merrill to get minutes, I assume he doesn't drink.

 

[CavzAddict]

Please. He didn't expend much energy in the game because he did very little. Stop with the excuses. It's just one game, but our superstar sucked ass last night and cost us a win.

I think he did very little for the reasons that jscc said. I can only imagine how draining it can be carrying this team half the time. We talked about it all the time with Lebron.

 

[Pierre Pan]

LeBron did this all the time while he was here. Being the team offense is draining. Especially on a physical back to back.

Often times, I felt it was LeBron being passive aggressive and trying to prod management into getting him some players pre-trade deadline (except for that one strange playoff game against Boston ). From all indications, we haven’t seen anything like that from Mitchell before and ostensibly he was happy with the roster construction at least publicly. But, of course with the shoddy local reporting, I’d doubt we’d ever hear of any disgruntlement ahead of time anyway.

Regardless, going with your hypothesis, then all the more reason to go deeper into the bench.

 

[Pierre Pan]

One person responsible for this embarrassing loss. Donovan Mitchell. End of story.

Did you see DeRozan calmly get up to the free throw line and swish 3 consecutive free throws, all needed? Cool as a cucumber. Impressive.

Please. He didn't expend much energy in the game because he did very little. Stop with the excuses. It's just one game, but our superstar sucked ass last night and cost us a win.

Don’t forget the fact that DeRozan is 7 years older than Mitchell, also coming off a back-to-back and played 49 minutes compared to Mitchell’s 44 and 40 vs 38 minutes the previous night

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

I'm not sure Mitchell is fully recovered from the serious illness he picked up over the break. He also played 38 minutes then had to travel the night before.

The Bulls had 35 more rebounds than the Cavs. The Bulls missed 66 shots and the Cavs got 34 defensive rebounds, or 51.5%. The Cavs missed 59 shots and the Bulls got 49 defensive rebounds, or 83%.

You can't blame that on Mitchell. You can't win when you get the rebound on barely 50% of your opponent's missed shots, especially since Mitchell was tied for 3rd with 5 rebounds. Okoro had NONE in 24 minutes. Allen had FOUR in 34 minutes.

I've said this before - LeVert is a point guard. He had 15 assists last night. He's not a great shooter; he's only making 41.8% of his shots this year. His strength is getting into the paint, getting the opposing big to commit to contesting his layup, and dishing off to a big or kicking it to the corner.

LeVert, unlike Garland, has the height and leaping ability to threaten the rim, forcing opponents to take him seriously. When they contest his attack on the rim he passes off for easy buckets.

I just wish he were a more accurate shooter. He can get a 10-foot jumper in the paint whenever he wants it, but he lacks a shooting touch.