The Cavs change face: Mitchell and Garland leave everything in tables

The ability to change is inherent in every good coach. And also a necessary quality to get ahead in the playoffs. The one plan of many coaches often doesn’t work when a series gets long and things turn ugly. They collide with their own limitations, they can’t change, they insist on a single idea and, in the end, they succumb to it. The adjustments between one game and another can decide a tie, allow not to add two defeats in a row, recover and emerge. That is why, in the playoffs, we have seen so many failed projects due to not wanting, or rather not being able to, make variations on a single plan that wears out as the days go by. And, at the same time, coaches with extraordinary abilities and others without those qualities have succeeded by doing the opposite, but yes with the power not to get bogged down in the same thoughtlook beyond and thus escape from the clutches of a rival who is surprised and unraveled in one way or another.

We don’t know if JB Bickerstaff is that kind of brilliant coach, but we do know that he has shown things (others not) in his time in the NBA and, above all, he has changed against the Knicks. The reckless and resourceless team of the initial duel it has become attractive, clear and clean in this second. The offensive dependency on a genius like Donovan Mitchell had to be resolved and Bickerstaff gave him the controls of the distribution. And the change was brutal: everyone scored more, Darius Garland found a place in a system in which he had a hard time fitting in, the game was collaborative (up to 26 assists distributed, 10 more than in the initial clash). and the bench contributed with a rotation, another change, much deeper than in the first round. They were all involved. And the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, shut down a few days ago, returned to being the pressure cooker that it was in the days of LeBron James, the one the Cavs need to add and tie the tie. One more player.

Bickerstaff’s changes were noticeable in everything, especially in a Mitchell who assumed that to win the series he cannot shoot the 30 times of the initial defeat. He went to only 11 (an outrageous difference), scored 17 points and distributed 13 assists, losing only 2 balls for a +24 with him on track. Everyone was involved, contributing, in part thanks to the fact that the shooting guard was the point guard and allowed Garland to play in a more comfortable version… and it was also noticeable: of those 17 points of game 1 he went to 32, and from 11 pitches to 17, also going from 4 to 10 triple attempts. More prominence and a fit that we’ll see if he’s final or just temporary next to Mitchell, a place where he has been seen intermittently and sometimes even lost during the season. The feeling is that the arrival of his new partner has slightly slowed down Garland’s progressionbut the reality is that their statistics have been similar to those of the past year and with the odd adjustment the couple can work.

In the Knicks there was not much response and, after a start in which they stood up, they seemed to settle for the initial victory, as if that could be enough for them. It is not objectionable: What’s more, temporary disconnections are normal for certain equipment. Overcome by circumstances, Jalen Brunson went to 20 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals, but shot 5 of 17 from the field and 1 of 8 from 3-point range. Julius Randle did not shoot well either (8 of 20) and stayed at 22 goals, but lost 6 balls. The 24.1% in triples for the Knicks decided everything (7 of 29) and the bench this time did not work. Tom Thibodeau took advantage of the huge difference to give his players a breather, something unusual for the veteran coach. But he was left without answers on both sides of the court: 36.7% shooting from the field, 17 total losses… And without the ability to stop the rival, who at times played very easy. What’s more, in the second quarter, without going any further, the Cavs scored 34 points, shot with a 50% accuracy rate, distributed 9 assists and only lost one ball. Bad thing for the Knicks.

And more: Caris LeVert led the local second unit and went to 24 points from the bench. Danny Green made his debut in these playoffs, went to almost 20 minutes and scored a triple, the 315th of his career to be ninth on the list. Evan Mobley and Jarret Allen added 22 points, 23 rebounds and 5 blocks combined. Isaac Okoro made two very quick fouls and played less than 3 minutes to make way for a very active LeVert. And Ricky Rubio did not play after playing for just over 5 minutes in the first game: the Spanish point guard has not finished exploiting this course, suffering from an injury that kept him off the slopes for a year at his best, and his leading role has diminished. We will see where his future is and how much he has left in an NBA in which he has had a fantastic career and has already played 12 seasons.s. The best news for the Cavs, the victory and the great performance of Garland. “We’ve seen the All Star we know”, Mitchell has said of his partner. The series moves to New York. Al Madison. That place where everything is possible. Or not. It always depends on the point of view. clear.

cleveland cavaliers

Statistics

31 Jarrett Allen
10 Darius Garland
14 Danny Green
3 Caris LeVert
33 robin lopez
5 sam merrill
Four. Five Donovan Mitchell
4 Evan Mobley
19 Raul Neto
35 Isaac Okoro
16 cedi osman
13 Ricky Rubio
8 lamar stevens
32 Dean Wade

Statistics

	Min	pts	RT	RO	DR	Ast	Per	rec	Tap	T1	T2	T3	FR	CF	Val
31 Jarrett Allen	3. 4	9	10	6	4	3	1	3	3	1/2	4/8	0/0	0	2	0
10 Darius Garland	36	32	3	0	3	7	4	0	0	10/11	2/7	6/10	0	2	0
14 Danny Green	19	3	4	0	4	0	1	2	0	0/0	0/0	1/2	0	3	0
3 Caris LeVert	39	24	4	0	4	3	2	0	0	2/2	5/7	4/9	0	1	0
33 robin lopez	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	2/2	0/0	0	0	0
5 sam merrill	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
Four. Five Donovan Mitchell	38	17	2	1	1	13	2	2	1	3/4	4/6	2/5	0	4	0
4 Evan Mobley	39	13	13	2	eleven	0	2	2	2	1/2	11/6	0/0	0	3	0
19 Raul Neto	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	2	0
35 Isaac Okoro	2	0	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	0/0	0/1	0/0	0	2	0
16 cedi osman	22	5	6	1	5	0	3	1	1	0/0	1/2	1/7	0	3	0
13 Ricky Rubio	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
8 lamar stevens	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
32 Dean Wade	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0

new york knicks

Statistics

9 RJ Barrett
eleven jalen brunson
13 Evan Fournier
6 Quentin Grimes
3 Josh Hart
55 Isaiah Hartenstein
8 daquan jeffries
2 Miles McBride
5 Immanuel Quickley
30 Julius Randle
23 mitchell robinson
4 Derrick Rose
Four. Five jericho sims
1 obi toppin
18 roby isaiah

Statistics

	Min	pts	RT	RO	DR	Ast	Per	rec	Tap	T1	T2	T3	FR	CF	Val
9 RJ Barrett	33	14	3	1	2	0	0	1	0	6/7	4/10	0/3	0	1	0
eleven jalen brunson	36	twenty	5	1	4	6	2	4	0	9/10	4/9	1/8	0	1	0
13 Evan Fournier	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
6 Quentin Grimes	twenty-one	4	3	0	3	2	2	3	0	4/5	0/0	0/2	0	1	0
3 Josh Hart	26	5	4	1	3	0	1	1	0	0/0	1/2	1/1	0	2	0
55 Isaiah Hartenstein	26	4	7	5	2	5	2	1	0	0/1	2/6	0/0	0	4	0
8 daquan jeffries	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
2 Miles McBride	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
5 Immanuel Quickley	23	12	1	0	1	1	1	2	0	3/4	3/4	1/4	0	3	0
30 Julius Randle	33	22	8	4	4	1	6	1	0	3/3	5/13	3/7	0	2	0
23 mitchell robinson	twenty-one	2	5	1	4	0	2	0	4	0/0	1/2	0/0	0	3	0
4 Derrick Rose	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
Four. Five jericho sims	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0
1 obi toppin	fifteen	7	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	0/0	2/4	1/4	0	1	0
18 roby isaiah	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0/0	0/0	0/0	0	0	0