CtB Trifecta: Quickcap, Preview, and Cavs @ Wizards Live Thread

Good evening CtB!

The Cavs took care of business last night 113-101 in their 2024-25 home debut against the Detroit Pistons… some quick takeaways from last night:

A Group Effort

The Cavs win last night showed a lot good things. First, was the egalitarian nature of the offensive attack… six Cavs were in double figures and nobody scored more than 20 points. By no means is yours truly saying that the offense has to look this way every night, it’s just nice to see that the Cavs can morph into whatever situation calls for. It didn’t call for big star performances, and it’s always nice to get other guys who aren’t normally offensive stars such as Dean Wade (19 points) and Ty Jerome (13 points off the bench) some confidence because they will need to be willing scorers when the games are important.

A Defensive Masterpiece

What really carried the Cavs last night was their defense, which held the Pistons to a 101.0 offensive rating. Outside of Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey heroics, the Pistons could do nothing and it resulted in 13 steals and four blocks for the good guys, and 22 turnovers for the Pistons. It’s not like the Cavs’ defense was perfect, they were outrebounded and they let Jaden Ivey and Cade Cunningham torch them from outside… but by causing enough chaos with their defensive energy they were able to manage the game to a relatively easy victory. Evan Mobley added to his Defensive Player of the Year résumé with six stocks; four steals and two blocks.

A Quick Word about Detroit

JB Bickerstaff has them playing hard and they were not an easy team to deal with… as it was aforementioned, Cade and Jaden are a dynamic duo. The problem was that they have absolutely zero help, so Coach Bickerstaff has a tall task on his hands.

Next up: @ Washington Wizards

The Cavs had to catch a late flight last night to the banks of the Potomac River to take on the hapless and tanking Washington Wizards tonight to cap off the opening stanza of pretty bad teams to start the year for the good guys. The Cavs will be favored, have heavy legs, on the road, and need to win given the kind of aspirations they claim to have for the post-season. Starting 3-0 would be a dream start for Kenny Atkinson’s Cavs, I believe it will happen… Cavs by 10.

Tip off is scheduled for 7:00PM Eastern time and will broadcasted live on Fanduel Sports Network Ohio, Go Cavs!