Cavaliers return from break, maintain first full follow

Jaylon Tyson mentioned he didn’t understand how a lot of a defensive presence Harden might be till he was his teammate.

“The offensive part, nothing’s really surprised me, but defensively, he’s actually pretty good. He got a couple blocks. He’s definitely not what you call a cone,” Tyson mentioned.

All-star guard Donovan Mitchell has three straight video games with no less than 30 factors however is aware of there’s nonetheless an adjustment interval occurring with Harden.

“We haven’t even gotten to playing a two-man game together and what that looks like. So I think as we build, you’ll start seeing that as well. But I think the biggest thing now is we found something that works,” Mitchell mentioned.

Atkinson mentioned they went again to a few of the stuff put in throughout coaching camp to offer a refresher course for the veterans and to get newcomers Harden, Dennis Schroeder and Keon Ellis up to the mark.

Atkinson added that it’s probably Evan Mobley and Dean Wade might return to the lineup on Thursday. Mobley, the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, has missed the final seven video games as a consequence of a left calf pressure, whereas Wade was sidelined for 3 video games as a consequence of a sprained left ankle.

The Cavaliers have received all three video games with Harden within the lineup. Cleveland can be on a five-game profitable streak going into Thursday evening’s recreation towards Brooklyn. It is 17-5 since Dec. 29 and has a league-best .772 profitable proportion throughout that span.

Cleveland (34-21) is fourth within the Eastern Conference however is just one.5 video games behind Boston for second. The recreation towards the Nets begins a stretch of 5 in seven days, together with a visit to Oklahoma City on Sunday and a house recreation towards the New York Knicks on Tuesday.

“We all have to make sure we’re locked in and ready to go,” mentioned Mitchell, who’s fifth within the league in scoring at 29.0 factors per recreation. “This is no easy stretch. You can look up and be in bad shape right off the bat.”