The boos that the Cavaliers heard as they left the court after Sunday’s loss to Charlotte weren’t directed at the players, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. There was an organizational decision to rest several rotation members rather than prioritize a win that would have earned the team the No. 2 seed and avoided a potential second-round matchup with the league-leading Celtics. The result was embarrassing, as Cleveland was outscored 18-2 to end the game and will face Orlando in the first round after falling to fourth place.
Vardon notes that the loss of Craig Porter Jr. to a sprained ankle in the first quarter left the Cavs short on ball-handlers. With Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Caris LeVert all sitting out, there was no one to run the offense as the lead slipped away.
“It was difficult (to watch), but we had our plan in place with what we were gonna do with our guys,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “(Our starters) were gonna play those three quarters, and then Craig not being out there made it a little difficult to organize and score in the fourth quarter, but we wanted to stick to our plan, and no matter what was going to happen, we were going to give our guys an opportunity to play.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- Thirty-four-year-old DeMar DeRozan finished the season as the NBA’s leader in minutes, per Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. The Bulls swingman was on the court for 2,988 minutes, his highest total in a decade, as he became the first player over age 30 to league the league in that category since LeBron James did it six years ago. “And he doesn’t miss practice. He doesn’t miss shootaround,” Coby White said of DeRozan. “He’s early to everything. Those are the things I notice. He’s always on time. He’s always one of the first ones there. You know how some guys can be. And for him, it’s just his professionalism day in and day out never changes.”
- The Bulls have some injury concerns heading into Wednesday’s play-in game, notes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Ayo Dosunmu has a bruised quad and Andre Drummond is dealing with a sprained left ankle, and neither is certain to play against Atlanta. ‘‘Ayo is having issues with the running and the starting and the sprinting and the stopping,’’ coach Billy Donovan said. ‘‘There’s been some discomfort there for him. He has to get over that hurdle. I think there is hope he can clear those hurdles.’’
- Bucks coach Doc Rivers is looking forward to a playoff matchup against Indiana, which was 4-1 against Milwaukee this season, according to Jamal Collier of ESPN. They haven’t faced each other since January 3, which was before Rivers took over the team. “Indiana has had our number all year, so perfect opponent,” Rivers said. “They’ve played great against us. They have great confidence against us. We’ll have great focus because we’re going to have to.”
- Giannis Antetokounmpo may not be available for the start of that series, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The Bucks star hasn’t played since Tuesday when he suffered a soleus strain in his left calf, and Rivers confirmed over the weekend that there are doubts about his status for the opener.
Doc already preparing the excuses for a first round exit… lol
That would happen no matter who the coach is with Giannis out but seeing the Bucks flounder under his direction makes wonder if Griffin would have done better.
I hope Horst is getting everything he wanted from all of these master moves he has made.
Whilst that is true… Doc in the post season is one good year and over a decade of pain…
It made little sense to hire him other he’s a name… Griffin had been doing a good job…
Another abomination for Silver to ignore. I assume it wasn’t the HC’s idea. I’m sure there was medical documentation for the guys sitting out, but there was obviously none to require a removal of the starting group after 3 quarters (nor is that how minutes restrictions across a starting group would ever be thoughtfully handled). They just decided at a certain point that they didn’t want to risk a Knick loss and a possible 2 seed. Still, why embarrass your HC by making him say stupid things. Own it.
Doc Rivers motivational speaking: “You guys are going to do this now because you have to. You just have to do it now! You got that? I know that I believe in you, that you know you go to do this.”
Even though he hasn’t found a ton of playoff success it is still cool to see the career Demar is putting up. He was so raw coming into the league and now seems destined for Hall of Fame consideration at minimum. If he climbs much further up the scoring list he could finish up being a near lock. It’s kind of wild to think of really.
He definitely deserves it… There’s lots of people with worse resumes in the HoF…
Damar is a lock!