Cleveland is missing people right now. His knee not being completely recovered, Donovan Mitchell had to return to the infirmary and he took the opportunity to have surgery for a broken nose. But the rear is not alone on the sidelines, since Evan Mobley, Max Strus And Dean Wade also missed the last few matches.
That's three fewer starters and a significant rotation, and that's reflected in the collective results of the team, which has only won 7 of its 16 games since the All-Star Break…
The Ohio squad had, however, managed very well the absences of Darius Garland and Evan Mobley at the start of the season, stringing together victories thanks to a game more focused on 3-point shooting, to move up to 2nd place in the East. Despite its current poor form, JB Bickerstaff's group is still in 3rd place in the conference (43 wins – 26 losses), but the gap has narrowed with Orlando (42-28) and New York (41-28 ), now in ambush.
Focus on the intelligence and altruism of players
And above all, with only 13 games remaining before the playoffs, the rotations are no longer very clear.
“It’s difficult, without a doubt. I think we're lucky to know who our players are.”tries to reassure the coach, interviewed by The Athletic. “One of the things I consider a blessing is that our guys have high basketball IQs and are unselfish players, so they can come back and adapt. There may be some issues, but for the most part I think they can adapt. »
Except that after the disappointment of the last playoffs, and this “gentleman's sweep” suffered against the Knicks in the first round, the Cavaliers are not in the best conditions for the home stretch.
“To be honest with you, the rotations are complicated (to set up), simply because we didn't have enough time. We obviously have the core of guys. But the last rotations will be a little more difficult to manage, although we will have to find a solution” concludes JB Bickerstaff.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Donovan Mitchell | 49 | 35.4 | 46.8 | 37.3 | 86.2 | 0.9 | 4.4 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 2.9 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 27.4 |
| Darius Garland | 45 | 33.4 | 45.2 | 37.8 | 83.2 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 6.4 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 18.7 |
| Jarrett Allen | 64 | 31.8 | 62.9 | 0.0 | 74.2 | 3.3 | 7.5 | 10.8 | 2.6 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 16.3 |
| Evan Mobley | 38 | 31.1 | 57.8 | 31.4 | 70.4 | 2.4 | 7.8 | 10.2 | 3.1 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 15.6 |
| Caris Levert | 57 | 28.5 | 41.5 | 32.1 | 75.3 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 5.3 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 14.0 |
| Max Strus | 60 | 32.2 | 41.2 | 34.0 | 78.5 | 0.9 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 3.8 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 2.6 | 12.2 |
| Isaac Okoro | 60 | 27.6 | 49.4 | 39.5 | 68.6 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 9.7 |
| Georges Niang | 69 | 22.3 | 44.4 | 36.9 | 85.5 | 0.3 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 9.3 |
| Marcus Morris | 2 | 18.1 | 60.0 | 71.4 | 50.0 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.5 | 9.0 |
| Sam Merrill | 51 | 17.1 | 41.2 | 41.1 | 95.0 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 8.0 |
| Craig Porter, Jr. | 45 | 13.1 | 50.7 | 34.4 | 73.6 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 5.9 |
| Dean Wade | 54 | 20.5 | 41.4 | 39.1 | 76.9 | 0.7 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 5.4 |
| Tristan Thompson | 39 | 12.4 | 64.0 | 0.0 | 30.4 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 3.9 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 3.6 |
| Damian Jones | 31 | 7.4 | 56.9 | 18.2 | 82.4 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 2.6 |
| Emoni Bates | 11 | 8.0 | 28.1 | 25.0 | 25.0 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 2.3 |
| Isaiah Mobley | 6 | 8.5 | 38.5 | 28.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 2.0 |
| Ty Jerome | 2 | 7.4 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Pete Nance | 3 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
