The Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the Milwaukee Bucks inside, leading to a runaway 136-111 victory.
Three stars of the game
First star: Jarrett Allen
25 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal
Allen was an absolute force to be reckoned with. He relentlessly attacked the basket by rolling hard to the rim and looking for any opening he could find to make himself available for a pass inside. Defensively, he controlled the paint and cleaned up the glass.
This was the ideal game from Allen.
Second star: Evan Mobley
27 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Basically everything I
said about Allen could also be said of Mobley. He was aggressive offensively, attacking inside. And when the defense sagged off, he took the outside shot, going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.
This game was the template from a process and results standpoint for Mobley.
Third star: James Harden
13 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds
Harden spread the ball around and looked to get the bigs involved. It was exactly what the Cavs needed from their starting point guard.
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Dud of the game
Bum: Tyler Herro
15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists
Milwaukee’s point-of-attack defense was a mess. Herro wasn’t the only reason to blame for that, but he was the most noteworthy example of someone who wasn’t upholding their end of the bargain. On top of that, Herro struggled to make anything happen as a scorer as he went just 5-for-18 from the field.
Cavaliers who deserve shoutouts
Donovan Mitchell
15 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, +31
Mitchell let the game come to him in a way that he doesn’t always do. He attacked when the moment called for it, and he deferred to his teammates when they had cleaner looks. This led to Mitchell controlling the game without controlling the ball, making room for the dominant performances from the bigs.
Mario Hezonja
8 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists
Hezonja thinks the game at a high level. He does a great job of reading how the opponent is playing, and then exploiting it to the best of his ability. In this game, that weakness was rebounding.
Milwaukee had to send extra bodies to contain Mobley and Allen on both ends. Hezonja did a great job of ducking inside around the help to grab 11 rebounds, including four on the offensive end.
Play of the game
Plays like this show how dynamic the bigs can be when you give them an opportunity to do so. Forcing a forward to chase Mobley around a screen from a guard, then around a dribble-hand-off with Allen is incredibly difficult to do. I would love to see them incorporate more actions like this that force bigger defenders to guard in space and navigate screens like a guard.
Quote of the day
“It was part of our film session this morning, so it’s nice to see it transfer. Reward these guys, they’re both playing great. Sixteen shot attempts, we were very intentional about getting them the ball. Good job by our perimeters, finding those guys in the right spots.”
Stat of the game
Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley led the team with 16 shot attempts each.
Allen and Mobley were aggressive in looking for opportunities to score, and their teammates were consistent in getting them the ball. That is a formula worth repeating.
This game will be remembered for how the Cavs got the bigs involved
Mobly and Allen were forces all night. Not just for a few minutes, not just for a quarter, but until the game was completely out of reach early in the fourth quarter. The bigs stayed aggressive inside, and their teammates kept feeding them the ball.
Getting the bigs involved to this degree can destroy a defense. It’s similar to establishing a run in football. Once you control the line of scrimmage, the pass game opens up because the defense has to sell out to overload the box.
Milwaukee’s defense tried to shrink the floor to stop Mobley and Allen. Defenders crashed down from the corners in an effort to cut off the initial drive, but this opened up the floor for everyone, including whatever big wasn’t the main focus of the defense. This allowed for some of the big-to-big passes or put-back offensive rebounds.
This offense is at its best when they’re forcing the ball to the bigs, and the bigs are rolling hard and aggressively looking for openings to attack inside. Despite that, both groups have struggled to establish the bigs as consistent scoring threats for a full 48 minutes.
Far too often, the Cavs abandon this formula when things get tough. Either the guards take it upon themselves to handle the majority of the scoring load or the bigs become passive and stop looking for opportunities inside — and usually it’s both.
It’s not always this easy to establish the bigs inside. Milwaukee’s defense is bad and easy to exploit, but this formula should be more repeatable than it’s proven to be. Maybe this game can set them on the right path.
