ATLANTA – This is what they call gravel and grinding.
The subversive Cleveland Cavaliers, amid their most grueling ride of the season and losing a duel, rose 15 points lower in the second half to stun the emerging Atlanta Hawks 96-91 on Saturday night.
Head coach JB Bickerstaff preached for months on a specific Cavaliers identity. Saturday showcased it.
No Kevin Love. No Isaac Okoro. No Dylan Windler. Another slow start, leading to a 15-point hole on the road against a superior team that won four of its first five games and claimed a big win the night before in Brooklyn. Three-point shots did not fall early. There were maladaptations throughout the court. But none of that mattered. Bickerstaff’s message after the loss to Indiana on Thursday, the message about dealing with adversity in the game, clearly resonated.
The determined Cavs did not allow frustration to prevail. Instead, they kept pushing. Suddenly, it was a two-possession game at the start of the fourth quarter. Then Cleveland finally came over the hill and moved ahead at 9:47.
Even when the Falcons tied the game with a Bogdan Bogdanovic try in the last minute, the Cavs held together, ran their offense calmly and handed the ball over to their most productive striker, Collin Sexton, who broke the tie – a cold-blooded 3 with 27.2 seconds left.
Sexton scored 27 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, half of Cleveland’s total production. Sexton is the first player to score at least 20 points in each of the Cavs’ first six games of a season since LeBron James in 2004-05. He is the fourth player to achieve the feat in franchise history, along with James, Austin Carr and Bingo Smith.
JaVale McGee delivered a big boost off the bench, scoring 14 points with nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. Andre Drummond scored another double double, with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
While the Hawks played the second night of a rugby game, Bickerstaff talked about the importance of starting fast, hoping to take advantage of Atlanta’s tired legs. Although that did not happen, the Cavs kept up the pressure all night – and increased it over the last 24 minutes – until the league’s most productive offense was unrecognizable, scoring just 35 points.
This is the first time the Falcons have been kept below the 100-point threshold all season.
Last Sunday’s win over Philadelphia was a surprising opening week. But the Cavs have looked completely different since then. Partly because they are. Even with a brief description, and missing some important pieces of rotation, they have the same DNA as the one Bickerstaff is trying to introduce into his talented group: pellet and grinding.
This is how you start to change the culture.
Following
The Cavs will leave for Orlando for two consecutive games. The first is on Monday, with the tipoff for 7pm
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New Cavs face masks for sale: Here you can buy Cleveland Cavaliers-themed face masks for coronavirus protection, including a single mask ($ 14.99) and a 3-pack ($ 24.99). All NBA proceeds are donated to charity.
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