Kenny Atkinson had repeated that this first series of trips would be a “test” for his Cavaliers. A very successful test for the best team in the league. By winning last night in Dallas, she recorded a 9th victory in a row and therefore concluded this “road trip” to the West without defeat.
Cleveland stuck 149 points on the Nuggets defense, won by 18 units on the Warriors floor, then finished with two 12-point victories against the Lakers and the Mavs.
Play with strength from the start
“ I'm really impressed with our kind of mentality on the outside. It was the last game of the series, we were ready to play. It is a resilient group, which is united. there is such a belief right now, an expectation that we are supposed to win this match. I felt it. The team that sets the tone, that starts off being more aggressive, the more aggressive team has the advantage “, delivers the coach after the match.
An aggressiveness, particularly defensive, that he felt from the first moments, his team limiting their opponent to just 21 points after 12 minutes of play. On the outside, I always thought you couldn't wait for things to happen. You have to go get them, play with strength from the start. That's exactly what we did, and no 'Let's see how the match goes'. I knew from the start that it was a match, with our mentality, that we were going to win », continues the technician.
This night, as he says, the Cavaliers were helped by the major performance of Evan Mobley (34 points and 10 rebounds). But behind him, no less than six players reached or exceeded the 10-point mark. And the Cavaliers generated 38 assists on 52 converted shots.
The way to win
The sign of a team in full confidence, a “ collective trust » from which “benefits” 12 or 13 guys » of the workforce. These “expected” victories? “ It's something that develops, that we still discover as we win big matches. The strength and confidence with which we played tonight… I thought we were going to face fatigue, that it was going to be difficult to live with, and we arrived with this strength from the start “, continues Atkinson.
Similar satisfaction with Donovan Mitchell. “ The most important thing is that we did a lot of positive things in these four matches. It wasn't so much a question of winning, but how you win, the ways of doing it. We did it four different ways. […] Tonight it was about keeping a lead, then a bit of chaos, but we got through it at the end of a 'road trip' from which we are all tired. This is how we evaluate things », says the rear.
With 30 victories for 4 small defeats, his team remains more than ever at the top of the league. Before Wednesday's shock against the Thunder, No. 1 in the West. Cavs who have still not lost to a team from the opposite conference!
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Donovan Mitchell | 32 | 31.5 | 45.6 | 41.5 | 81.0 | 0.5 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 23.7 |
| Darius Garland | 32 | 30.0 | 49.3 | 42.7 | 90.9 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 6.7 | 2.4 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 20.5 |
| Evan Mobley | 31 | 30.2 | 57.0 | 43.0 | 78.2 | 2.1 | 6.6 | 8.7 | 2.9 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 18.4 |
| Jarrett Allen | 33 | 29.2 | 69.5 | 0.0 | 73.6 | 2.3 | 7.8 | 10.1 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 13.7 |
| Caris Levert | 27 | 23.8 | 50.7 | 47.1 | 68.7 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 2.7 | 3.8 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 11.6 |
| Ty Jerome | 32 | 17.6 | 49.6 | 41.5 | 89.6 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 1.5 | 10.1 |
| Georges Niang | 33 | 20.6 | 47.1 | 37.9 | 75.0 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 8.5 |
| Sam Merrill | 29 | 19.2 | 38.7 | 35.1 | 94.4 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 2.0 | 7.0 |
| Max Strus | 5 | 22.0 | 37.5 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 0.8 | 2.8 | 3.6 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 6.8 |
| Isaac Okoro | 23 | 21.0 | 49.5 | 49.2 | 71.4 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 6.6 |
| Dean Wade | 24 | 22.5 | 40.0 | 35.3 | 50.0 | 1.0 | 4.3 | 5.3 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 6.0 |
| Jt Thor | 5 | 5.1 | 80.0 | 75.0 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 5.0 |
| Craig Porter, Jr. | 19 | 8.9 | 55.6 | 45.5 | 60.0 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 2.5 |
| Tristan Thompson | 13 | 7.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 28.6 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 2.5 |
| Jaylon Tyson | 19 | 7.7 | 45.9 | 30.8 | 50.0 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 2.2 |
| Luke Travers | 6 | 6.9 | 42.9 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 1.3 |
| Emoni Bates | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
