Last night the Cleveland Cavaliers put on a tremendous fourth-quarter rally that led to a big win over the Phoenix Suns. With the Cavaliers struggling on the road this season getting this win out west is huge for this team. The Cleveland Cavaliers came out firing in the opening quarter. Then came quarter number two. Cleveland fell apart at this point in the game. The Cavs’ defense was nonexistent and they allowed Phoenix to cut the Cavalier’s lead to just three going into halftime.
After what was probably a very motivational halftime speech by Cleveland’s head coach J.B. Bickerstaff the Cavaliers again came out of the locker room locked in. But so did the Phoenix Suns. Late in the third quarter, the Cavaliers held onto a one-point lead with the Suns on a decent little run. A frustrated Bickerstaff called a timeout and turned to his backup point guard Raul Neto.
J.B. Bickerstaff’s Gameplan
“It was just time to get going,” Bickerstaff said of his fiery message during the timeout stoppage. “It was too much (up and down) with our focus. That’s how you get bit in the butt, so we just needed to lock in. I think we did that. Duane Washington was cooking us a little bit and wanted to see if we could put somebody out there who could be disruptive. Raul has earned that, and he’s shown us time and time again that he can be disruptive on that end.” according to Cleveland.com.
The Cavs went on to outscore the Suns 17-2 to start the fourth quarter. While this was a great win for the Cavaliers the Suns had to have been extremely frustrated. J.B. was finally able to relax and clear his bench as the lead was a safe 22 points. The Cleveland Cavaliers won the fourth quarter by outsourcing Phoenix 32-19. The final score was 112-98 Cleveland.
“That’s who we’re trying to be on a consistent basis. That level of effort, attention to detail, all four quarters,” Donovan Mitchell said. “We did it in spurts and we let them come back. Putting that together on a continuous basis, you can’t mess around with a team like that. Even though guys aren’t playing, they got guys that have been there continuously. We turned it up to a whole different level at the start of the fourth quarter. Those guys came in and basically won the game. They came in and set that tone and that’s how we gotta play.” also reported by Cleveland.com.
Solid Game For The Young Cavaliers
The duo of Garland and Mitchell had yet another solid performance as well as Isaac Okoro starting to hit some open shots from the corner. Of course, no Cavs game would be complete without solid numbers from the Cavalier’s young frontcourt of Mobley and Allen. Mobley’s mid-range game was in full effect in the win. As Well as Jarrett Allen’s rebounding and rim protection. All in all, this was a solid road win for the Cleveland Cavaliers as they move to 26-15 on the season.
Image Credits: commons.wikimedia.org.