The Cavs returned home from a grueling 12-day, five-city road trip carrying plenty of momentum. Entering Wednesday night\u2019s matchup against Washington at Rocket Arena, Cleveland has won four straight games and nine of its last 10, sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference, closing in on second place.<\/p>\n
Ideastream Public Media\u2019s commentator Terry Pluto said a shift occurred before the blockbuster trade for James Harden at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout six weeks ago, they had a record of 17-16,\u201d Pluto said. \u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, the team is falling apart.\u2019 I had even had one person in the media said, \u2018They\u2019re imploding.\u2019 I\u2019m like, well, you know, let\u2019s just see.\u201d<\/p>\n
What followed has been anything but an implosion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI say it\u2019s just more balanced basketball, more energetic basketball,\u201d Pluto said.<\/p>\n
That shift, Pluto explained, began with adjustments made by head coach Kenny Atkinson, who reassessed both his rotation and his approach.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Atkinson) recalibrated on what it was going to take to get the team back on track,\u201d Pluto said.<\/p>\n
Pluto said Atkinson leaned more heavily on younger players, including Jaylon Tyson, Craig Porter Jr. and Nae\u2019Qwan Tomlin, while centering the offense around the team\u2019s 7-footer, Evan Mobley.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Atkinson) kept stressing, \u2018We got to get to ball inside more.\u2019”<\/p>\n
After Mobley went down with a calf injury, the team\u2019s other big man, Jarrett Allen, stepped up, highlighted by a 40-point, 17-rebound night in Portland on Feb. 1.<\/p>\n
As the Cavs began to steady themselves, a difficult decision followed; trading All-Star guard Darius Garland. Pluto said the numbers help explain why.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Garland played this year, the Cavs were 13-13,\u201d Pluto said. \u201cAnd without him this year they are 20-8 and trending up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Garland, who has been dealing with a right toe sprain, had missed his final nine games with Cleveland before the trade to the L.A. Clippers. Lawrence Frank, the Clippers president of basketball operations said Monday that Garland\u2019s right toe is feeling better, but the guard is still recovering from an offseason left toe surgery.<\/p>\n
Pluto said that beyond Garland\u2019s injuries, there were questions about how he fit alongside star Donovan Mitchell on the court. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Pluto said Mitchell\u2019s influence goes far beyond scoring.<\/p>\n
\u201cKenny Atkinson has told me how at times Mitchell has propped him up a little bit when things were discouraging early in the year and saying, \u2018Coach, we\u2019ll figure it out,\u2019\u201d Pluto said. \u201cMitchell is such a key part of what they\u2019ve done here in the last several years. (He\u2019s) not only a star and an All-Star, his attitude is tremendous.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result has been a team playing with visible joy and intensity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re just playing fun basketball,\u201d Pluto said. \u201cObviously, winning is fun, but they\u2019re playing fun basketball because of the energy. You could just see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That energy received another jolt with Harden\u2019s arrival. While Pluto had reservations about the trade, he said the early returns reflect a familiar pattern.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the scouting reports I got on James is when he goes to a new team, you usually get the best version of Harden for a while,\u201d Pluto said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s what they\u2019re getting.\u201d<\/p>\n
That version, Pluto noted, is defined by playmaking and feel.<\/p>\n
\u201cA guy who looks to move the ball and get his teammates involved, being excellent at throwing … the ball to a big man,\u201d Pluto said. \u201cThat\u2019s a skill that\u2019s sometimes lost in the NBA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harden\u2019s impact extended beyond passing in Monday\u2019s signature win at Denver.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe decided to go help and rebound,\u201d Pluto said. \u201cHe had 10 rebounds, and he had seven assists in that game.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than the numbers, Pluto said, Harden\u2019s presence fueled belief.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt created that immediate influx of optimism the team needed, which it was already building after, frankly, Garland got hurt and was out,\u201d Pluto said.<\/p>\n
As the Cavs surge up the standings, Pluto believes their change in approach may be just as important as their record.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis style of basketball is tougher (and) more defensive oriented,\u201d he said. \u201cThat will serve them better in the playoffs than just going out and trying to score 140 points and playing pretty basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pluto also pointed to Atkinson\u2019s growth in his second season on the sideline.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s learning not just players as basketball players, but as players as people and how to communicate with them,\u201d Pluto said. \u201cThe NBA is a star-driven league. It\u2019s a communication league for coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pluto said that reputation is now paying off.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a reputation as being a good communicator and a good listener,\u201d Pluto said. \u201cAnd it took them through that tough period earlier in the year to where we are now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cavs returned home from a grueling 12-day, five-city road trip carrying plenty of momentum. Entering Wednesday night\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-462100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}