CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The young Cavaliers find themselves in rarified air without LeBron James on the roster – 10 games above .500 and on a collision course to return to the playoffs.
The last time Cleveland fielded a playoff team sans James was the 1997-1998 season that saw them bounced in the first round for the fourth time in five seasons and the last time the Cavs were plus-10 in the win column was 2017-2018 – at the end of James’ last season in Cleveland.
With 29 victories already in the bag, the Cavs have surpassed the expectations of many pundits and fans.
“To be honest, we didn’t come into the [season] with any results-based goals or expectations,” Bickerstaff said Tuesday afternoon. “We came into the season with the idea that we need to build and continue to build a foundation. We needed to continue to build a style of play and a team identity.
We’re fortunate that through that identity the team came together, and we’ve been able to amass the victories that we have.”
Bickerstaff is keeping his team grounded, in the moment, and focused on the process – one day, one practice, one game at a time.
While Bickerstaff is unwilling to discuss where they had set the bar internally, he acknowledged what has been the most pleasant surprise to date.
“It’s our ability to win games in different ways,” Bickerstaff said. “We’ve struggled from the free throw line; we’ve struggled to take care of the basketball, but we held it down with our defense. For us to show the ability to win in different ways, that’s what it’s going to take in order to be a good team.
“Some nights your offense isn’t going to click, so how do you continue to overcome? Some nights the other team is going to be scoring and then you’ve got to figure out a way to manufacture points so the ability for us to win games in different ways is definitely growth.”
During James’ tenure, the Cavs enjoyed a tremendous home court advantage in that opponents rarely looked forward to coming to Cleveland.
That home court advantage may be returning with the Cavs having won nine of their last 11 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
They surpassed last year’s win total at home of 13 with their 14th victory Monday night.
“Every time we go out there, we’re expecting to win,” rookie Evan Mobley said. “We’ve just had a lot of home games recently and we just try to win on our home floor.”
The early season success has fans and media talking about not just the playoffs, but the potential that the Cavs could secure home court for the first round.
Bickerstaff is adamant on not looking too far ahead.
“You want to play well in front of your fans,” Bickerstaff said. “You want to have an environment where opponents come in and they struggle with noise or the energy that’s in the building. And that’s what our focus is.
The playoffs and that, we’ll get to that later on, but right now it’s about our connectedness to our fanbase and playing well in front of our fans.”
While Mobley and Darius Garland generate most of the attention, Cleveland’s success this season has been a group effort.
With Mobley’s arrival, Kevin Love has accepted a role off the bench and in doing so resurrected what appeared to be a career on the decline due to injuries and his own manufactured drama.
“We may be the ultimate share-the-wealth team,” Love said Monday night following a 95-93 win over the Knicks. “That’s beautiful. We really pay it forward for the next guy. We trust the extra pass. We trust guys to make the right plays out there and understand that they have great intention in everything that they do and we do.”
Mobley, a favorite to win Rookie of the Year, has appreciated Love’s sacrifice, which has had a trickle-down effect within the locker room.
“It’s had a huge impact, just him being bought in and really just passing the torch, really helped the team. I feel like everyone’s all on the same page. We all know what we’re supposed to do so I feel like him doing that helped this team a lot.”
Knee injuries ended the season for Collin Sexton and Ricky Rubio. Lauri Markkanen is now down for multiple games due to a sprained right ankle too, yet the Cavs just find a way to fill the voids and keep winning.
“That’s the essence of team,” Bickerstaff said. “That’s why you play team sports is to enjoy the successes with others and to enjoy other people’s successes and our guys are personifying that on a nightly basis because they genuinely do. They share the game. They’re always picking each other up.
We don’t have one guy who is more worried about himself than he is the team, and we’re extremely fortunate to have that be the case.”