Dean Wade sets season high with 20 points
Photo credit David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Cleveland, Ohio – The Cavs dropped the final game of their homestand to the Pelicans 123-104.
The Cavs hosted the New Orleans Pelicans for the 4th and final game of their current home stand. Cavalier star Donovan Mitchell missed his 2nd consecutive game due to an illness.
The first quarter turned out to be a game of runs with the Cavs taking their only lead of the game in the first quarter 7-4. The Cavs then saw themselves down 19-9 within the first 4 minutes of the game. The Cavs rallied back and cut the deficit to as low as 5 but ended the quarter trailing by 8 points.
The wine and gold struggled defensively to contain the Pelicans. New Orleans shot 65% from the floor and 50% from 3 point land. The Cavs also had issues with their defensive rotations, the Pelicans ball movement kept the Cavs defense on their heels all quarter.
While the 1st quarter saw the Pelicans score 16 points in the paint, the 2nd quarter the Cavs struggled to slow the Pelicans down in transition. The Pelicans scored 11 fast break points to the Cavs zero.
The home team did get an offensive spark started when they went on a 10-2 run in the middle of the quarter to cut the lead to 2. From there the Pelicans stepped on the gas and ended the 1st half on a 15-3 run that included two fast break 3 pointers in the final 3 minutes. The Cavs entered halftime trailing 66-52.
Max Strus was the bright spot for the Cavs in the 1st half, he scored 11 points 2 assists, although he did have 2 turnovers.
The injury bug hit Cleveland again, rookie guard Sam Merrill was ruled out of the game with right wrist soreness and did not play in the 2nd half. He finished with 0 points on 0-4 from the field in 12 minutes.
Coach Bickerstaff after the game explained how Merrill hurt his wrist Wednesday night against the Utah Jazz.
“He fell last night in the first half and was able to get through it yesterday. Just woke up this morning sore and then obviously went out, tried to play and just wasn’t able to go.”
When asked about Merrill’s status for the Bulls game coach Bickerstaff was non committal.
“Yeah, we’ll see what happens. I mean, obviously, if he couldn’t finish the game out tonight. You know, he’s got a couple of days but you never know. He’s a tough kid. So we’ll see what happens.”
The Cavs began the 3rd quarter with much better energy and effort as they scored 5 unanswered points en route to a 10-2 run to start the half.
The Cavs eventually cut the lead down to 4 trailing 80-76 with 4 minutes and 36 seconds remaining in the quarter. From that point on the Cavs didn’t score the remainder of the quarter as the Pelicans closed the quarter on a 14-0 run with the Cavs beginning the 4th quarter trailing 99-76.
When asked to assess his team’s performance, coach Bickerstaff thought his guys just ran out of gas.
“We just ran out of steam. You can’t knock the effort in what our guys have been doing. You know how they’ve been competing, bodies down and everybody’s had to step up and do a little bit more. And I just thought, we ran out of steam there.”
The Cavaliers offensive woes would continue into the final period. The Cavs only scored 4 points in the first 3 minutes of the quarter and the deficit became too much for the Cavs to overcome. The Pelicans cruised to a victory and the Cavs dropped the final game of their homestand 123-104.
Despite the loss the Cavs finished 3-1 on their homestand and for Coach Bickerstaff he considered that a successful week.
“We’ve had a great week, you go three and one on this homestand and battled the things that we’ve had to battle. This has been a successful week for us. Now we just got to continue to put it together and hold down the fort.”
Dean Wade set a season high in points with 20 points and shooting 6/8 from behind the arc, what’s the story behind Wade’s aggressive shooting?
“Because if I don’t shoot it, I’m going to get yelled at by my teammates (no not really). The guys believing in me goes a long way. The whole thing self belief and everything like that and you got to realize if you don’t take the open shot, sometimes that’s the best shot you’re going to get that whole possession a lot of times and you know, that possession if you don’t shoot, it might end up in a turnover or something bad so you might as well shoot it.”
The Cavs (16-13) travel to Chicago to face the Bulls (13-17) Saturday December 23rd.
