The Spin: Cavs Wear Hawks Down With Paint Presence, Balance In 128-105 Win

Spencer Davies highlights five observations from the Cleveland Cavaliers' 128-105 NBA In-Season Tournament victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

The Cleveland Cavaliers finished 3-1 in Group A of the NBA In-Season Tournament with a 128-105 rout of the Atlanta Hawks, but did not qualify for a wild card spot in the knockout round of the competition. Spencer Davies highlights five observations from the game.

Hey, There's Spida

Fear not, Cavs fans: Donovan Mitchell is alright. After starting the game with a shaky outside shot and a pair of turnovers, he put his head down and started to use his upper body strength to force the issue. It resulted in great success. Mitchell worked from the inside out and it benefited the Cavs greatly. 

That went for whether he slammed it home, got to the free-throw line or kicked it out to the perimeter for shooters at the ready. The box score shows that Mitchell had a 40-point night with a perfect nine free throws and 11 rebounds to go along with five assists and steals. But even with those kinds of numbers, it's about so much more.

"We know, and everybody knows, this isn't a secret, that Donovan Mitchell is really good at basketball. You don't expect him to have nights like he had, and I think that's because we're spoiled," Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said following the win. 

"But everybody at some point in time has an off night. You look at a guy who had been out and missed some time and then worked his way back. It's gonna be difficult. It's not gonna be easy. But again, the confidence that he has in himself. The confidence that his teammates have in him. Clearly, he's a difference-maker when he's out there on the floor and he's rolling. Things just change."

The most rewarding part of this particular 40-ball was that it came in the context of a night where the Cavs had six other guys in double figures as well. (Darius Garland with 19, Evan Mobley with 17, Georges Niang with 12, Max Strus and Jarrett Allen with 11 and Caris LeVert with 10.)

"He's so efficient as a scorer and a shot-maker — his ability to draw fouls, get to the free-throw line, get to the rim. He doesn't need to overshadow a game to have big numbers," Bickerstaff said. "I think this year obviously you play with a little more pace, you have more possessions, so guys get a little more opportunities, but this isn't an outlier for Donovan. 

"He's not a hog offensively. He knows how to pick his spots, but knows how to blend in with his teammates and get his teammates involved also. Again, when a guy's got a hot hand, teammates know: Get him the ball. I think that was one of those nights tonight for Donovan."

Mitchell said that playing and succeeding in the context of the team's success is his job.

"It's not going to be 40 every night, but continuing to play within the nuances of the game, continue to do it," Mitchell said. "We've got Ev doing his part, DG, Max, JA, Georges. Caris. There's so many guys. Tonight, it was 40. Sometimes, it may be 20, whatever it may be. 

"But at the end of the day, just trying to impact the game in any way that I can. Cutting down the turnovers, I had six of them, know what I mean? Those are the things I'm looking at, but continue to play within the flow of the game. I feel like I've done a pretty solid job of that, and just continue to do it. I'm feeling, getting back to my rhythm and just continue to go off from there."

Nov 28, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Isaac Okoro (35) and guard Donovan Mitchell (45) celebrate in the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Hawks at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

More Of This

A work of art here:

Poetry in motion pic.twitter.com/ayMvitHhK6

— Tony Pesta (@Tony_Pesta) November 29, 2023

It's a textbook basketball possession, one that I believe truly got the Cavs in the driver's seat for the rest of the game. Once a team sees what slinging that ball around can do to an opponent's morale, it should be a motivator to keep doing what works.

"We want as many of those possessions as we possibly can [get] 'cause teams can't guard that. If you play that way, everybody's gonna eat," Bickerstaff said. "There's obviously gonna come down some possessions, end of games, things are gonna get sluggish and you've got to have guys that can make that happen. Teams switch a lot, those types of things. You're gonna have to beat switches to force another coverage. 

"But even in that, we want that to trigger something else. So we want to move the ball as much as we possibly can, make teams have to chase us and then suffocate 'em on the other end defensively."

The Cavs did it, for the most part, for the entire second half.

Cavs offense has been humming all night pic.twitter.com/Fmo5DabWlE

— Tony Pesta (@Tony_Pesta) November 29, 2023

Fun hoops, which is what the Cavs are looking to find.

"I think that's one of the things that we've been missing this season so far," Bickerstaff said. "Just because there's been so many ins and outs and rotational changes because of injuries and guys trying to figure out where they fit and who they are. But this group over the past few years, when you watch our bench, our bench has been like a party. The league put in rules to kinda slow our guys down from having so much fun over there.

"We've got to get ourselves back to being joyful in our competition and celebrating and having fun. Because it's okay. You can compete your tail off and have fun while you're doing it. So that's the message to the group is just find the joy in the competition. But the only way we're gonna be successful is if we do it together. There's no better way to be together than to celebrate one another."

Interior Dominance

Because of that ball movement and offensive energy, the Cavs doubled up the Hawks in the paint 64-32. Mitchell got downhill, Garland got downhill, and both guys utilized their diving bigs and baseline cutters. A recipe for success.

"We just wanted to be aggressive," Bickerstaff said. "We obviously studied the tape and watched how they defend pick-and-roll primarily, and they lift their big guys out of the pick-and-roll to trap. 

"So when you get the ball in the pocket, there's anything but smalls left back there. So we wanted to get the ball in the pocket as much as we can and then be aggressive and then force them into rotations and then continue to drive after those rotations and not just settle. So, I think our guys did a great job of just being attack-minded and understanding where we had an advantage."

Defensively, it was a collective effort. Perimeter defenders and rim protectors worked in sync to make it extremely difficult on Trae Young and Dejounte Murray, who spent most of their energy struggling to find lanes or finish over the top.

"We did a good job handling their two guards, taking them out of it, making it tough on them and a lot of guys stepped up," Strus said. "Thought our bigs were awesome. They kind of beat us on the glass a little bit but then they answered the bell and came back. Evan had 19 rebounds. That was impressive. Him and JA battled the whole time. Those two play like that and we are going to be pretty successful.”

"As talented as Trae Young is, as good of a scorer as he is, as elite as he is as a basketball player and a playmaker, I thought Darius did a great job taking the challenge and forcing him into tough situations. He also had his teammates' help," Bickerstaff said. 

"That's the way our team is built defensively. It's never one man's job to slow down a guy as elite as Trae Young. Our big guys I thought did a phenomenal job in pick-and-roll, but Darius did a great job of taking the challenge and getting him to the spots where we needed him to be so that our bigs could do their job. You can't say enough about the job that they did on those guys tonight in the backcourt."

Just Scratching The Surface

Mobley delivered a 17-point, 19-rebound, seven-block performance that screamed utter dominance. Bickerstaff went out of his way to talk up his true meaning to Cleveland.

"I mean it's cliche, but there is no limits to what Evan Mobley can be,' Bickerstaff said. "He is a flat-out stud on both ends of the floor. There's not many people who now or in the future will have the ability to impact the game on both sides of the floor the way that he can. Again, everybody is pressing, pressing, pressing: Score, score, score. But Evan Mobley is an elite basketball player. He's not a one-dimensional guy. 

"A stat doesn't dictate how impactful he is on the floor. He's all over the place, 17 points, 19 rebounds, seven blocks. He's all over the floor doing everything, and that's the type of basketball player that he is. His numbers may not be or his points may not be what people want them to be, but Evan Mobley is a stud and he can dominate a game like he did tonight."

It's only the fourth time an NBA player has accomplished a feat like that since 2010.

"He was everywhere on the floor tonight. Not just on the defensive end," Garland said. "He was really effective on the offensive end as well. Getting into the pocket early, making the right reads, it was good and in the flow. Just being the unicorn he is.”

"I mean, definitely happy with my play today," Mobley added. "I feel like I played pretty well but yeah, overall I didn't even know I had seven [blocks] at the end. I feel like I racked up a lot at the end with quick hands and stuff like that. But yeah, I was happy with my play, just trying to be effective on the game. They have some good rebounders over there so that was my role tonight, just trying to rebound, push the ball and create for my teammates and then attack where I can."

A Different Feel

That NBA In-Season Tournament atmosphere sure is different. Leading up to this game, players and coaches have talked about the higher stakes and almost playoff-like environment that it brings along early in the year. 

It appears that the players don't like running up the score because they would prefer to respect their opponents, but everybody seems to be on the same page of that reality.

I found it interesting that Bickerstaff was so supportive of the tournament, even suggesting to add more games in a home-and-home capacity and making other tweaks. As long as the league's players and coaches are for it, this should be an annual fixture on the NBA schedule.