The Cavs lock up the one seed in the East with a stress-free win.
The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t let their foot off the gas like they did on Sunday against the Sacramento Kings. They got out to a lead in the second quarter and continued to run with it until it turned into a 135-113 win over the Chicago Bulls. That victory was good enough to earn the number one overall seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Cavs had a lackluster first quarter. They weren’t able to establish any kind of offense besides Evan Mobley’s outside shot and Ty Jerome’s microwave scoring. This led to a one-point game after the first 12 minutes.
The second quarter was a completely different story.
Cleveland took control in the second stanza by outscoring Chicago 43-24. The outside shot that hasn’t been there for the last several games finally returned in a big way. The Cavs went 10-17 from three, which included 14 second-quarter points from Darius Garland.
The Cavs pushed their lead to as many as 27 in the third before allowing the Bulls to shrink that deficit to nine. The Cavaliers quickly reassserted their dominance to close out the third and carried it into the fourth to come away with the easy win.
The Donovan Mitchell-less Cavaliers needed Garland to step up, and he did. He led the way with 28 points on 10-17 shooting, which included going 6-10 from distance.
Evan Mobley was everywhere on Tuesday. He once again showed his extended range by going 3-6 from three en route to 21 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, and one block.
The Cavs also received strong performances from their bench. Ty Jerome added 18 points while De’Andre Hunter supplied 17.
The Bulls were without Coby White (rest) and Josh Giddy (arm). They were led by 21 points from Patrick Williams.
Everything looks better when you make threes
The three-point shot has abandoned the Cavs recently. They came into this game connecting on just 34.5% of their threes since the beginning of March. That’s good for 23rd in the league during that time frame.
Head coach Kenny Atkinson tried to break the Cavs out of this extended funk the only way he knew how: Just changing the routine.
“We’re thinking about changing bats,” Atkinson joked before the game. “We’re going to a new style to get ourselves going. I mean, it’s a little bit like a hitting slump, right? We did different drills today [at shootaround]. We’ve been doing kind of the same thing all year. We just changed it up today.”
The Cavs brought out the torpedo bats on Tuesday. They ran the Bulls off the floor by going 25-50 from distance (50%). This was their highest three-point percentage in a game since their Feb. 25 win over the Orlando Magic.
“It helped me extremely today,” Garland said about Atkinson’s change to shootaround. “So shout to Kenny for switching shoot around.”
There’s an inherent variance in three-point shooting. The very best players miss 60% of their outside looks, even if they’re generating good ones.
Those good shots that they generated went down on Tuesday.
“Tonight it was paint touches,” Atkinson said postgame when asked about the shooting. “It was drive, kick, swing, make the extra pass, getting offensive rebounds, kicking out to threes. … We got back to the way we played all year. So that was a really good sign. The three-ball is going to be huge [for us in the playoffs.]”
Welcome back Darius Garland
Speaking of just making shots, Garland is someone who’s struggled to do that since the All-Star Game. He came into this one shooting just 39.5% from the floor and 32.3% from distance since the break. That was after being on the verge of being in the 50/40/90 club through his first 52 games.
Garland once again looked like the guy he was before the break. The good shots he was generating finally went down. This included going 4-5 from three with 14 points in the third quarter alone.
In many ways, Garland’s outside shot variance has mirrored the Cavs’ own. It hasn’t been an issue where the shot quality was down. They just weren’t going in.
The Cavs are hoping this is the version of Garland they’ll get in the playoffs.
Third quarters continue to be an issue
The third quarter has been an issue all year. They’re top three in net rating in every quarter except the third, where they’re 12th (+2.2 net rating).
Atkinson was talking about the third-quarter woes way back in November. Donovan Mitchell brought it up after the last game, where the Kings outscored them 35-22.
That happened again tonight. After completely dominating the second, the Cavs let go of the rope and nearly let the Bulls back into the game. Chicago cut the 27-point deficit down to nine thanks in part to a 14-2 run.
The Cavs closed the quarter strong and pushed the lead back up to 13 before the start of the fourth, which was more than enough to put away the short-handed Bulls. That said, it’s still concerning that this keeps happening so late in the season.
Evan Mobley has made games like this routine
Mobley has quietly raised his floor all season. This was a good example of just how high that has become. A night like this, where he stuffed the statsheet as thoroughly as he did, just wasn’t that surprising.
The best players aren’t necessarily the ones who are continually making highlight plays. They’re the ones who impact the game in mundane ways and make challenging things look easy. Mobley is becoming someone who’s continually done that over the second half of this season.
The Cavs missed Ty Jerome
Jerome has looked incredible since returning from his knee injury. He’s now compiled 38 points on 16-24 shooting with seven assists in the 45 minutes he’s played since coming back to the lineup on Sunday.
The Cavs have been winning with their depth all season. Jerome’s momentum-changing plays are a big part of what has allowed the bench lineups to be as potent as they’ve been.
Jerome was once again able to get to his floater in the midrange, hit off-the-dribble threes when the defense sagged, and generally just be a chaotic, high-energy player who can turn the momentum of a game.
This is the version of Jerome the Cavs will need in the playoffs.