The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Cavs aiming for more wins in rest of season
The Cavaliers’ health is improving, and they believe it will translate into more wins after the All-Star break, Jeff Schudel writes. Plus, more on the Browns’ Greg Joseph and Tribe ace Corey Kluber.
Only 24 games remain on the 2018-19 schedule when what is loosely called the second half of the season begins for the Cavaliers on Feb. 21 in a home game with Phoenix, and coach Larry Drew hopes to make the most of them.
By the time the Cavs play the Suns, Drew expects Tristan Thompson to be back from a foot injury. Also, Kevin Love should be well-rested as he gets back in playing shape from his own foot injury. Cedi Osman should no longer be on minutes restrictions because of an ankle injury.
“Mentally, I think we’re in a pretty good place,” Drew said on Feb. 13. “The way the first half of this season has gone, I’ve been in situations where after a poor first half, guys have gone into the break with a lot of doubt. I don’t see that with our club.”
The Cavaliers are 1246 at the break. The only teams with worse records are the Knicks (1147) and the Suns (11-48). The Knicks snapped an 18-game losing streak on Feb. 14 when they beat the Hawks in Atlanta, 106-91.
The Cavs play 12 games against teams with winning records and 12 against teams with losing records the rest of the way. Despite having only 29.2 percent of their schedule remaining, the Cavaliers, if healthy, should win nearly as many games after the break as they did the first 70.8 percent of the season.
“I’m really hoping and keeping my fingers crossed we can get everybody back at once,” Drew said. “We haven’t had that all year. I just want to get everybody together in the gym injury-free, Then we can see what we really have.
“The energy is there and the enthusiasm is there. This group has pushed through the adversity the first half of the season. I’m very proud of them and looking forward to after the break.”
A healthy team for the final 24 games could make staying among the bottom three teams difficult. The teams with the three worst records in the league have the best mathematical chance (14 percent) of winning the lottery to get the first pick in the draft in June. The Cavaliers are only one game worse than the Chicago Bulls (14-44) and five games behind the Hawks.
• The NBA All-Star Game, which tips off at 8 p.m. Feb. 17 on TNT, is unwatchable, in my opinion, just as the Pro Bowl in the NFL is unwatchable. Games in which defense is taboo are boring.
It didn’t used to be as bad as it is now. In 1986, for example, back when Magic Johnson played for the Lakers and Larry Bird played for Celtics, the East beat the West, 139132. And yes, the threepoint rule was in play then. The 3-point shot went into effect after the 1979 season.
Two years ago, The West beat the East, 192-182. A total of 122 three-point shots were attempted. That works out to one three-point attempt every 23.6 seconds. Forty-three 3s (35.2 percent) were successful, which means 79 shots misfired. Everything else seems to be a dunk fest.
• Nik Stauskas, acquired by the Cavaliers in a trade with Portland on Feb. 3 and then signed by the Cavs on Feb. 12 for the rest of the season, had a strange tale to tell.
“It’s crazy, I haven’t left Cleveland,” he said after a practice last week. “When I got traded here, I flew to Cleveland on Monday (Feb. 4) and was able to practice once with the team. I sat on the bench for the Boston game.
“I got traded to Houston (Feb. 6), but no one ever booked me a flight to Houston, they were thinking they were still going to make some moves and I was possibly going to be traded again. So I stayed in Cleveland, got traded to Indiana (Feb. 7), the same thing happened. I was told, ‘Just kind of stay put, don’t book any flights.’
As soon as Indiana waived me, Koby (Cavs general manager Koby Altman) called me and said, ‘We’re going to work with you back here in Cleveland.’ They were already on the road, so I stayed put at the hotel. I’m glad it worked out.”
Stauskas played 20 minutes against the Knicks on Feb. 11 and scored three points. He played 23 minutes in the triple overtime loss to Brooklyn on Feb. 13 and scored seven points.