Home cooking can always do a lot for your well-being and those good vibes can have an excellent effect on your production. In this case, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are benefiting from that comfort of home in a big way as they put an exclamation point on this early-season hot streak. The Cavs have now won three in a row at home and are riding a four-game win streak in all to give them a record of 21-11. That positions them in third place in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavs battle the first-place Milwaukee Bucks (22-8) on Wednesday down at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. It should be another classic between these two teams who have already played twice. Both games were in Milwaukee and Cleveland played okay but weren’t able to show yet that they are contenders for the top spot, at least not at the moment.
This latest run of victories for the Wine and Gold should at least give them the confidence that they can beat the Bucks this time. To be the best, you have to learn to beat the best.
Back in the day, the Chicago Bulls had to learn how to beat the Detroit Pistons to become the six-time champions that they became back in the early 1990s. Cleveland today has an outstanding and talented team filled with youngsters. They finally have a skilled veteran in Donovan Mitchell and that should continue to help cement this team in conversations surrounding postseason play.
Before the Cavs get to that postseason, let’s look at this latest homestand thus far, four games in, and some of the things that have stood out in it. While these things have been noticed while the team has grown this season, it’s reinforced certain developments.
Takeaway No. 1: Comeback wins lead to a crushing win over the Utah Jazz
Cleveland is now 15-2 at home which is the best home record in the NBA right now. They’ve won four straight games and the last three at home. In the first two games of the homestand, the Cavs made late-game comebacks against the Indiana Pacers and then the Dallas Mavericks to gather momentum on the homestand. They took those big games and wasted little time in their next battle against the Utah Jazz on Monday night where they started the game on fire and never let up in a crushing defeat.
In those first two “Kardiac Kids” moments of the home series, the Cavaliers started both games out very sluggish and weren’t playing good defense, especially on the inside. But in both games, they were able to outscore their opponent by big margins in the fourth quarters and pull off the wins. However, in the Mavericks victory, they had to go to overtime and then survive the final 10 seconds of multiple shot attempts to survive 100-99.
In the Pacers game, in that fourth quarter, Cleveland outscored them by a 35-18 margin, and in the Dallas game, they outscored the Mavs 29-21 in the last frame. Learning to not fall short in the first three quarters could obviously do this Cavs team a wealth of good moving forward.
They seemed to get the memo because in the Monday matchup against the Utah Jazz they outscored them 29-21 in the first quarter and then 33-23 in the second. Having a 20-point lead at halftime is a lot more fun for a team than always having to mount comebacks.
Takeaway No. 2: Donovan Mitchell should be in the MVP conversation
Donovan Mitchell should be in the conversation for MVP of the NBA as he continues to pour in performances every night on the court that can’t be undervalued, and he seemingly is. The homestead started out very hot for Mitchell. When the team needed him the most against the Pacers, they got a thrilling performance where he scored 18 of his total 41 points in the last stanza. The Cavs were down by nine points going into that fourth quarter and won going away 118-112.
In the next game against the Mavericks, he scored 25 points but made several big baskets late and helped get the team to overtime where they got the close win. By game three of the homestand against the Jazz, he made his limited time on the court count as he scored 23 points in only 22 minutes. With the Cavs playing the Bucks Wednesday night, it was probably a good thing that Mitchell didn’t have to play 36 minutes as is his current average of time on the floor.
Mitchell’s season has been spectacular, to say the least, and he’s certainly taken advantage of his new home in Cleveland. The crowds at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse are being treated to something special this season with these young Cavaliers and Mitchell has been a real treat. Not since LeBron James was in Cleveland has the home crowd been in a frenzy most nights and we can thank Mitchell for part of that excitement.
Takeaway No. 3: The defense is getting better
The first two games of this latest current six-game homestead demonstrated how not to play defense to start games as the team played sluggishly and without much urgency. However, even when they were down in these contests early, they were able to regain their focus and play each possession to climb their way back into the games.
In the first two games of the homestand, they were able to turn things around in the fourth quarters and get the necessary stops. After both comeback wins the Cavs players talked about playing better and getting more focused down the stretch and that made a difference in their wins. They could have folded in each game, and most would have just chalked it up to Cleveland just having an off night. Instead, they didn’t collapse and they turned the deficits into momentum and more importantly, wins.
That defense must have also been discussed a lot as they prepped to play the Jazz as they jumped in front of them early and led by 18 points by halftime. When you are a young team there are a lot of things that can be difficult to figure out because inexperience can create inconsistencies. The beautiful thing right now for this Cavaliers team is that they are still playing inconsistently but have been able to still manage to get wins because they are so talented, to begin with.
Hopefully, this lengthy homestand continues to be successful for Cleveland and they can continue to get more comfortable as a team as they push to the playoffs in the spring.