Uh, that was a good god damn game.
We’ve got a lot of growth and a ton of cleaning up to do, but in a hard fought match we were the better team, almost wire to wire.
They missed shots they should of hit. We missed rebounds, turned it over, and bricked free throws to a maddening extent. We won convincingly. The second quarter gave us an idea of what the Cavs could do and then we shut it down. We created opportunities and got baskets when it mattered. We forced them to play as hard as they could to stay in the game. Beautiful stuff from our boys tonight.
I really like Drummond and McGee together in the Cavs front court. It really brings out the best in both players. Put Okoro out with those two and it will be tough to score regardless of their backcourt deficiencies.
The eight who played tonight are legit. Add three on the mend in Quickley, Toppin, and Burks and that’s eleven we can trust. Hopefully we can get one more out of Rivers, Brazdekis, or Spellman, which would be a good bonus.
Tampa swamp lizards, Indy, and Hotlanta are next on the trip.
We do have a road win on throughly unsustainable shooting stats.
Maybe next time. Worth noting that the same thing that contributes to turnovers, also contributes to eleven assists, 11 MOTHERFUCKING ASSISTS FROM YOUR POWER FORWARD. Even as he scores 28, and nails 4-4 from trey for Pete's sake. DAMN. He is our leader, and tonight, in Bullock and Payton, he had some serious co-conspirators. DAMNDAMNDAMN.
The minute Julius hit the pine for a rest in the second quarter, you knew the lead was going to wither away.
As for that unsustainable shooting?
We are deveolping a genuine defensive posture, which will result in some wins on nights when the fruit ain't falling.
A great win on a night when we didn't bring our A Game, turnover [24!] and foul FOUL Fowl Shooting wise [13-21]. But we outrebounded the Cavs 55-43, and it is worth remembering how Drummond kicked our ass in the preseason. Tonight Drummond/McGee combined for 26-26, Mitchell and Nerlens 13-17.
But we were 13-25 from trey, and many of those were off of Randle assists.
Thibs & Randle willed us to a win.
Knicks 2-2. Cavs now are 3-1.
Bucks came back and obliterated Miami tonight, albeit without Butler, but still....
Raptors always play us tough.
Exhale. The moment is over.
NEXT.