Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson joked after Tuesday’s game that he’s tired of being winless in the preseason. His team went 0-4 last season and dropped its first exhibition contest on Tuesday.
But the Cavs’ preseason losing doesn’t just date back to last season, they haven’t beaten an NBA team in the preseason since defeating the Atlanta Hawks in 2022.
They’ll get a chance to change that as they play the Chicago Bulls again on Thursday.
Who: Cleveland Cavaliers at Chicago Bulls
Where: United
Center – Chicago, IL
When: Thursday, Oct. 9 at 8:00pm EST
TV: FanDuel Sports Network
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As seen last year when the Cavs won their first 15 games of the regular season after the preseason, the results of these games don’t matter. That said, we can learn interesting things about the Cavs from what they prioritize in the preseason.
Conditioning has been brought up repeatedly as a main focus for the players heading into this season. Losing to the Indiana Pacers in the second round like they did played a large part in that. Atkinson believes his team has some work to do in that department.
“In that second half, our guys were struggling a little bit physically, which is normal, it’s not like there was an alarm or anything,” Atkinson said after the loss.
This is something that will be tested again on Thursday. The Bulls are one of the fastest teams in the league. From that perspective, it’s not a bad thing to go up against them twice in preseason.
One of the other interesting developments from the first preseason game was how the Cavs were using De’Andre Hunter with the starters. They made a concerted effort to get him more touches inside the arc. Is that something that they’ll continue to do even if he doesn’t have it going as much as he did on Tuesday? We might find out on Thursday.
We’ll also see how the two younger guards Tyrese Proctor and Craig Porter Jr. build on the success they had on Tuesday.
It’s good to have Cavs basketball back in our lives.
