The Cavaliers rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the Indiana Pacers, 118-112, on Dec. 16 in their 30th game of the season. They haven’t played a game with the roster 100 percent intact, yet they are third in the NBA East with a 19-11 record.
Dylan Windler, a player Coach J.B. Bickerstaff was counting on to provide a scoring spark off the bench, hasn’t played a game. He is expected to miss another month with an ankle injury suffered in training camp.
Center Jarrett Allen missed two games in early November with an ankle injury and then missed five games at the end of November and early December with a hip injury.
An eye injury prevented Darius Garland from playing in six of the first eight games of the season. Donovan Mitchell has missed a total of four games with leg injuries.
Kevin Love missed six games with a hairline thumb fracture and more recently two games with back spasms.
Dean Wade missed six in November with a knee injury. He has missed seven straight games with a shoulder injury. Bickerstaff on Dec. 16 said Wade is “progressing,” but provided no timetable for the 6-foot-9 forward’s return.
The Cavaliers have weathered the storm. Love, Garland, Allen and Mitchell are all back and contributing.
Bickerstaff said the depth on the roster and the fact the Cavaliers rely on so many players has made it less difficult to stay successful despite the injuries. The good news is, so far, anyway, except for Wade none of the injuries has been long-term. Last season the Cavs faded when Allen suffered a broken finger and missed the last 19 games in the regular season.
“We’ve tried to establish a system that’s not based on one individual guy,” Bickerstaff said. “We obviously have some really talented basketball players, and that’s not a knock on those guys by any means. But when you put in s system offensively and defensively, everybody knows what to expect all the time.
“If you try to base it on just one guy in isolation basketball or your defense is based on one guy and those types of things, when that guy goes out, it makes it extremely difficult to replace that.”
Mitchell scored 18 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter to lead the rally over the Pacers. The Cavs held Indiana to 18 points in the fourth quarter while scoring 35 points.
“Donovan felt we were a little flat and he was just trying to get the group juiced,” Bickerstaff said. “Darius had his moments (10 assists), Jarrett, Evan (Mobley) — everybody that was on the floor tonight found a way to give us a spark and a play when we needed it. Obviously (Mitchell) took over in the fourth quarter, but defensively everybody was a part of it. That’s the only way we win. Our guys deserve a ton of credit for sticking with it.”
• Mobley, 7-foot tall, is not the player the Cavs look to when they need a 3-point basket. In fact, he is averaging just one 3-point attempt a game and converting just 23.3 percent of the time. But he made a 3 from the baseline corner to the right of the basket to cut the Pacers lead to 110-109 with 5:29 to play. The score stayed the same until Mitchell hit a 26-foot jumper with 3:41 remaining to give the Cavs a 112-110 lead.
“You have to have courage to take that shot,” Bickerstaff said. “It’s not the first one Evan’s hit in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line.
“You don’t get any better in this league without courage. If I could tell you (reporters) how many shots he shoots (in practice) — it’s just a matter of time. When that confidence grows, you make a big one. Tomorrow night, two more come. The floodgates are going to open. Evan is going to continue to grow and continue to be special.”
Mobley has played all 30 games. He is averaging 15.1 points and 6.6 rebounds a game.
