“Things are easy when things are good. Things become a little more difficult when things are hard, and our response to that is important.”
-J.B. Bickerstaff, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach said after the team’s loss to the Pacers on 12/31/2020.
Things were not easy for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night in Atlanta against the Hawks. In fact, it was a struggle for most of the night for Cleveland, but they defended, got contributions off the bench, and got big buckets from Collin Sexton down the stretch to get a big road victory against the Hawks 96-91.
De’Andre Hunter led Atlanta with 17 points, Clint Capela had 16 points and 16 rebounds, and Trae Young chipped in with 16 points.
Cleveland allowed the Hawks to score 56 points in the first half, including 35 points in the first quarter, and trailed by 12 at the half.
According to Cavaliers head coach J.B Bickerstaff, the team got together and committed to turning things around in the second half.
“When we came into the locker room at halftime from our coach’s meeting, we asked what they thought, and we got their opinion,” Bickerstaff said. “They said that they already discussed it. They knew what we needed to do. They knew we needed to move the ball; they knew we needed to play together; they knew we needed to scrap. My challenge to them was then take words to action. Those things are easy to say but much more difficult to do, and they went and took words to actions.”
The Cavaliers held the NBA’s top scoring team to 35 points in the second half. According to Bickerstaff, the play of JaVale McGee, who chipped in with 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench, set the tone for the team on the defensive end.
“I thought JaVale(McGee) was unbelievable defensively,” Bickerstaff said. “He came in, and he showed our guys what it looks like to be a winner. He made plays down the stretch, and what that did was elevate people to want to compete and scrap with him.”
Sexton, a Marietta, Georgia native, made a triumphant return home with a game-high 27 points, including 13 points in the fourth quarter, and with the game tied at 88 late in the contest, the third-year guard hit a big-time three to give Cleveland the lead for good.
“He’s a walking bucket,” Bickerstaff said about Sexton. “There’s certain people who have a knack for putting the ball in the basket—all sort of ways. The kid is not afraid of the biggest moments. When we needed a basket, he went and manufactured a basket. That’s a unique skill, and we outta praise that skill because it helps you on nights like this.”
Sexton added: “They(team) pretty much have a lot of confidence in me, so I love it.”
Give Cleveland a lot of credit. They beat an Atlanta team, who is off to a good start, including a win over the Brooklyn Nets. Cleveland fought, scrapped, and made the plays necessary to get the job done. That’s what you call growth, and that is what you want to see from a young basketball team.
Notes:
-According to ESPN Stats & Info, Collin Sexton is the first Cavaliers player with 20 points in each of his team’s first 6 games of a season since LeBron James in 2004-05. Sexton is the 4th Cavaliers player to do this in franchise history, joining LeBron, Austin Carr and Bingo Smith.
–With his sixth straight double-double in as many games this season, Andre Drummond(12 points and 11 rebounds) has set a team franchise record for the most consecutive double-doubles to begin a season.
-Dante Exum did a great job on Trae Young and held him to 6-16 from the field. Exum started his second consecutive game for the injured Isaac Okoro.
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