Cup of Cavs

Cup of Cavs: Cleveland Cavaliers news and links for Friday, Oct. 7

Let’s go Guardians!

By Jackson Flickinger@Akron_Jackson Oct 7, 2022, 6:00am CDT

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Cleveland Cavaliers v Philadelphia 76ers

Best of luck to the Cleveland Guardians in their series against the Tampa Bay Rays.

The first sip

The Cavs’ offense looked good when the trio of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Kevin Love shared the floor on Wednesday night. It’ll be interesting to track how often this three-man lineup will be used and what kind of success they will have.

It’s very tough to guard these three in the half court when you throw in someone like Jarrett Allen who can finish so well at the rim. In this clip we see that Allen streaking to the basket causes two defenders to help. Caris LeVert makes a skip pass to Mitchell. The defense overreacts shifting over to Mitchell’s side leaving Love open at the top of the arc for a wide open three.

Here, we see Love setting a screen for Garland. The defense immediately switches due to Love’s outside shooting ability. Joel Embiid has to switch to get Tyrese Maxey off of Love. The rotation leaves Mitchell wide open and Garland has the vision and skill to get it over to him for an open three.

The Cavs should produce good offense with anyone they put on the floor with Garland and Mitchell. However, different pairings will unlock different things for the duo. The pairing with Love will really open up the floor for them in a way no one else on the roster can.

The second sip

Here’s some of the most interesting things said at Cavs’ media availability on Thursday afternoon:

Lots of talk at #Cavs practice about the flow & rhythm last night:

Caris LeVert: "There was a lot of space...it's kind of pick your poison...We enjoy sharing the ball...that allows us to be patient & not really carry a big burden. I think all of us got easy looks last night."
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) October 6, 2022

The Cavs looked good Wednesday night with three ball-handlers in Garland, Mitchell and LeVert. It’ll be interesting to see how that trio continues to develop. They certainly showed chemistry in their brief time sharing the floor.

#Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff shared with me that Isaac Okoro is “built like a machine” and they want him attacking opponents on the interior while on offense and you saw a bit of that against the Sixers last night.
— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) October 6, 2022