Donovan Mitchell dominates with 34 point performance
Photo credit David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Cleveland, OH – The Cleveland Cavaliers played their first game since participating in the NBA Paris game 2024 where they defeated the Brooklyn Nets.
The Cavs defeated the Chicago Bulls 190-101 thanks to a 34 point performance from Donovan Mitchell.
The Cavs began the game on fire scoring the game’s first 8 points before the Bulls scored their first basket. Donovan Mitchell set the tone for the wine and gold scoring 10 of his 34 points in the 1st quarter.
The Bulls fought back with a run of their own to cut the Cavs lead to 4 at 15-11 halfway through the period. With the bench mob on the floor, the Cavs went on a 23-7 to extend their lead to 35-18. Caris Levert and Georges Niang combined for 16 points off the bench in the first quarter.
The Cavs’ defensive presence was felt as they held the Bulls to 39% shooting from the floor and only allowed 3 made 3-pointers. The Cavs ended the quarter leading 40-21.
The 2nd quarter didn’t match the same offensive dominance from the 1st quarter. The Cavs were held to just 20 points in the quarter and were held to just 29% shooting.
The Bulls still struggled shooting from long range after going 1 for 5 from behind the arc. The Bulls however shot 58% on 2-point field goals and doubled the Cavs on scoring in the paint 16 to 8.
Even with improved shooting in the quarter the Bulls only cut the lead to 16 as the Cavs led 60-46 going into halftime.
The 3rd quarter was not kind to the home team, after leading by 14 at halftime the Bulls cut the Cavs’ lead to 3 by the end of the quarter. The offensive woes from the 2nd quarter followed into the 2nd half as they shot 36% from the floor. While the Cavs were ice cold, the Bulls took advantage and went on a 20-3 scoring run to end the quarter.
The Bulls got some offensive punch from the bench after Ayo Dosunmu scored 10 points in the 3rd quarter.
The 3rd quarter ended with some drama after Georges Niang was called for a foul with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. After an official review. It was determined that Niang didn’t stay vertical, and Dosunmu nailed both free throws to cut the Cavs lead to 3.
The Cavs carried a 3-point lead into the 4th quarter and quickly saw themselves down 1 after the Bulls scored the first 4 points of the quarter.
The quarter then turned into the Donovan Mitchell show as he scored 5 of the Cavs’ first 10 points of the quarter, including an and-1 conversion that gave the Cavs a 7-point lead.
After Caris Levert knocked down back to back 3 pointers the Cavs extended their lead to 10 with just under 6 minutes left in regulation.
The Bulls didn’t get any closer as Donovan Mitchell nailed 2 free throws with under 2 minutes left to push the lead to 15 and the Cavs went on to beat the Bulls 109-91.
In postgame coach Bickerstaff was asked if he believed his team had found their identity, he quickly responded yes, but pointed to the injuries making it difficult to achieve.
“Yes, but I believe the beginning of the year was just so choppy. So many guys that were in and out that we were just hurting. We were talking about… playing with more movement and those things, and if you don’t get the reps at it, it’s hard to become what you want to be. I think now, we’ve gotten close to 40 games under our belt. Guys have an understanding of what we’re trying to do, and they’re going out and they’re able to execute it now.”
Even with the explosion in 3-point attempts coach Bickerstaff still believes this team’s best chance at winning is their defense, but knows they can use the 3-point shot as a weapon.
“We continue to talk about being a defensive team first and foremost. We know that’s where we’ll find our most success. Using a three-point shot as a weapon, again those threes the majority of them came assisted and they were the guys doing the right thing like Dean’s last few. It was his teammates finding him and believing in him. I don’t think he had made one up until that point, and they continue to believe in him, find him, and tell him to shoot it.”
Dean Wade finished the game with 12 points, all of them coming from behind the 3-point line. The Cavs bench mob showed up tonight, they scored a combined 44 points and Sam Merrill’s hot hand continued as he had 15 points and was 4/6 from behind the arc.
With the Cavs shooting more 3 pointers the last month, the Cavs identity has been called into question. Donovan Mitchell was asked if about the Cavs defense in the 4th quarter he responded with “that’s our identity.”
“That’s our identity at the end of the day. When you make an attempt to score no matter what happens on the offensive end, it’s gonna you know, it evens out in a sense. You may not be making shots, but our identity is you’re not gonna get a shot, you’re not going to be able to do that. Whether it’s getting steals, creating 24-second violations like we did, being in the passing lane enforcing tough shots or getting on the boards. Whatever it is just scraping and fighting and clawing. That’s the biggest thing, but I always give credit, it starts with Jay (Jarrett Allen), he’s been phenomenal. And, you know, we’ve done a good job as well.”
Before the game coach Bickerstaff was asked about the significance of playing on Martin Luther King Day and he believes that people of influence should be more accountable and mindful of their actions.
“For me this year in particular, having thought about it, you take an opportunity to reflect on this. There are two ways I see it. One way it’s a celebration of where we are right now. The opportunities that I’m afforded because of the sacrifice and the ultimate sacrifice that he made, the barriers he broke down, and the fights that he was willing to take knowing what probably the ends were going to be. But for the greater good, he made the decision to keep going and you look in this room, you look in our crowd tonight, and you’ll see the fruits of that. I also think about it in a way now where part of me and him would be a little sad if you saw the state of where we are right now. I think it’s disappointing that we’ve found a way to thrive on division instead of going out and trying to bring people together, which is what his message was all about. We have people in power, people of influence, who are thriving because they want to keep people separated. To me, that’s saddening and I think his message on a day like today, it’s all about bringing people together and that’s when we’re at our strongest and when we’re at our best. So I want to talk about the civility that we should share amongst each other and how we treat each other, the conversations that we have. It’s completely okay to disagree, right? We don’t have to have the same beliefs. That’s not what we’re here for. But, we can respectfully disagree and just because we don’t agree, doesn’t make someone a bad person. I think that’s something that we have to do a better job of. All of us who have voices, media included. People watch us, people see what we do, and we set a tone for people every single day. They watch sports shows, they watch CNN and Fox News, on and on and on, and how we carry ourselves matters because we do have influence. So I do think it’s time that we hold ourselves accountable to how we act. How we treat one another and use our influence for a positive and try to change how we treat one another and how we care about one another. Just be kind to one another, as simple as that sounds. So if today’s a day where that message can be heard, then I think it’s a wonderful day to celebrate. A great man.”
The Cavs (23-15) take on the Milwaukee Bucks (28-12) on Wednesday, January 17.
