Game Night Observations: The Return of Championship Belief and Cleveland's Ideal Starting Five
That's 11 wins in 12 tries for the Cavs.
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers had a week off, but they didn’t miss a beat.
The Cavs took command of Thursday night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets and never looked back in a 112-84 win. This victory marks the sixth consecutive win for Cleveland and its 11th win in its past 12 games.
The start of the game featured the new-look Cavs putting together a highlight tape of what they can be. An incredible potent offense, an opportunistic defense, a team that can play fast in transition or slow things down in the half court. They’re a group that has multiple pick-and-roll duos that are seemingly unstoppable, with two All-NBA caliber guards at the helm and two All-NBA caliber bigs finishing things off. Lobs to the rim, wide open 3-pointers, a plethora of trips to the free throw line.
And that was just the first quarter.
The brightest moment of the opening period may have been when James Harden found Donovan Mitchell with a lob to the rim in transition. Mitchell punctuated one of Harden’s game-high nine assists with a right-handed dunk.
The cheers from the crowd after the dunk metaphorically took the roof off the building at Rocket Arena. The last four games that the Cavs have played may have taken the roof off of their expectations, too.
Instead of looking like a team that could put everything together down the stretch of the season, the newly assembled Cavs look like a group that will be a force to deal with. They’ve become a confident group that knows what could lie ahead of them if they reach their potential.
“I have to say, I felt that too tonight, like almost like a renewed energy, a belief,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “And I really felt it with our defense. Like, wow, like, holy man, this is— I haven't seen this level of defense, locked in, kind of all year. And that comes from confidence, I think, right? When you're not confident, you're not as aggressive. So they know we got something good going on.”
