Cavs fans can relate to Bickerstaff’s response to Osman ‘avalanche’

In the Cleveland Cavaliers’ victory on Monday night against former Cav Lauri Markkanen and the Utah Jazz, also Donovan Mitchell’s former team, the Wine and Gold cruised. Cleveland held a 62-44 halftime lead, behind their defense making things tough on Utah, and while Markkanen had 22 first half points, he was held to just two after halftime, and throughout the contest, the Cavaliers offense was humming.

In the game, Mitchell paced the Cavaliers with 23 points on eight-of-12 shooting in 23 minutes, with him going four-of-five from three-point range, and the rest of the starters were steady, with Isaac Okoro filling in for Lamar Stevens again then. Jarrett Allen was another notable performer from Monday, for instance, with 20 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in his 30 minutes.

In the game, which unfortunately did not involve former Cav Collin Sexton playing, as he was out with a hamstring strain, the Cavs ended up having a balanced attack, and inside-out play paid off for them.

As a result, the Cavaliers had seven players in double figures on Monday night, including two of those guys being bench contributors, with Caris LeVert chipping in with 13 points and four rebounds, and Cedi Osman had 22 points and hit five threes. Cleveland also had 29 fastbreak points in the outing.

How Osman got most of his production was in the fourth quarter, when his play was essentially the cherry on top of an impressive team win, when he had 20 fourth quarter points. It was one of those flurries from Osman where he was nailing deep balls in bunches, and despite him having his ups and downs, those types of performances always are a welcomed sight, and prove how should continually have opportunities.

When asked postgame about that type of thing from Osman, J.B. Bickerstaff’s response had to be so relatable to Cavs fans, too, via Spencer Davies of BasketballNews.com.

Cavs fans can easily relate to that Bickerstaff reaction to Osman’s binge on Monday.

Osman has his warts with inconsistencies, and on the season, his scoring splits have decreased to a bit from last season to 9.5 points per contest. Not too long ago, he had been in a cold spell as well, as his three-point shooting hit rate had dipped to 32.5 percent on the season prior to three games ago.

That said, some of that had to do with Osman not receiving enough time to establish more of a game-to-game rhythm, whether that is from deep as a catch-and-shoot guy, supplemental creator or energy swingman.

In two of his last three games, Osman had the aforementioned fourth quarter binge on Monday, and two games ago, he had a hand in Cleveland’s comeback over the Indiana Pacers on Friday, with 14 points on four-of-seven shooting. In that Indy game, he was five-of-five from the charity stripe as well.

What a key takeaway is as it pertains to Osman this season, still, involves how when he’s given ample stretches, he can give the Cavs a sizable punch off the bench. There have other instances where he’s had big games also, and in other recent seasons, he’s made his imprint on contests with how he can light it up and seemingly go off at a moment’s notice.

Bickerstaff’s quote above via Davies just sort of reiterates how Osman can go on these runs, as he did on Monday, expressing how it’s a ‘bit of a phenomenon.”

Cavs fans can definitely co-sign that sort of reaction, too. Hopefully, despite some inconsistencies, Osman can have ample chances to impact games, because with Kevin Love still finding his rhythm after dealing with some injuries in recent weeks and a bit out of sorts, he’s been off. Plus, Dean Wade is still out.

Now, while the Cavs potentially looking to add a rumored trade target such as Joe Harris could be sensible, Osman still should be a player that Cleveland keeps around, based on how he can heat up, and has been helping in other ways this season.

Us Cavaliers fans have seen the Cedi “avalanche” sort of scenario play out before, and with the playmaking of Ricky Rubio back seemingly soon for stretches, too, we could very well see more of these Osman flurries to come.