5 Cavs games that jump out in first half of 2022-23 season

5 key Cavs games in 2022-23 first half – No. 5: Jan. 2 versus the Chicago Bulls

For the fifth contest that I thought at first glance for especially compelling in the Cavs’ first half, I have Cleveland’s meeting with the Chicago Bulls on Monday, Jan. 2 at 7 PM. This will be the third meeting between the teams of the season, with Cleveland playing in Chicago on Oct. 22 at 8 PM and right before this one there on New Year’s Eve at 7 PM.

This, similarly to the case with Minnesota, features a contest two ascending teams that are climbing their way back to relevance in the postseason picture.

The Cavs had some struggles with the Bulls last season, but by here, I would imagine they should be better suited to deal with Chicago’s guards/wings, and Darius Garland should be more adjusted to handling Alex Caruso and Ayo Dosunmu’s ball pressure. The same could apply to some extent for Caris LeVert/Collin Sexton (seemingly).

And, in this third matchup, I’d look for Cleveland on to maybe find some success having more wrinkles for DeMar DeRozan/LaVine perhaps, such as mixing in some more traps with Evan Mobley splitting on the weak side, for example. By this time, Ricky Rubio could be back in the fold I’d think also, which would help on defense, I’d think as well.

In terms of the interior, I’d look for maybe former Bull Robin Lopez to be a player the Cavs go to versus Nikola Vucevic, as an aside to help Jarrett Allen here and there. Lopez could potentially be a player that could matchup well inside versus Vucevic with his size and frame.

Overall, with this being the third matchup and second consecutive one between the Cavs and Bulls, it’ll be fun to watch how, by this time, the two seem to fare against each other. And in the grand scheme, their head-to-head meetings could definitely have a notable impact on potential seeding down the line.

Anyways, there are a number of compelling games throughout the 2022-23 season, even more so given Cleveland’s return back to relevance in 2021-22, which played into the team getting featured nine teams on national TV this coming season, with me considering NBA TV as that in this sense. Cleveland was only flexed twice to those spots last season; it’s great that the Cavs will get their national spotlight.

But these five games I thought here jumped out for the first half, for various reasons and a few I thought will get more shine when the time does come.

We’ll highlight more in regards to games in the second half of the upcoming campaign in coming days.