Game Day: Cavs (29-20) @ Suns (29-19), Fri 1/30/26

[BKinSJC]

The Suns finish their 12-game stretch all against the East going 8-4. 5-1 in 6 home games, 3-3 during the 6-game road trip. Losses at Miami, Detroit, and Atlanta, and a loss in the first game back home to Miami again. Wins against the East first seed, second seed (twice), fifth and sixth seeds.

Honestly, apart from struggling a little against Miami, this weird little blip in the NBA schedule ended up going really well. The team managed to recover from losing Booker halfway through, won both ends of a couple of back-to-backs, and overall just played with the level of resilience that has become its hallmark.

At some point I might even have to stop being surprised when they win games that it feels like they should lose. It's not a fluke. This is a good team.

[Superbone]

This was a great play:

[ShelC]

Postgame Quotes and Videos

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[ShelC]

Another quality win, especially on a B2B after the Pistons. We didn't look past this one or have a letdown which shows how locked in this team is. This team has been relentless the past few games, maybe even had the Pistons and Cavs circled on the calendar. Both games were similar - did a good job making Mitchell's life hell, Cavs got some easy looks inside with Allen while Merrill, Hunter and Tyson shook loose for some 3s but the Cavs never really put together a run. I don't think the Pistons or Cavs were ready for our energy and intensity.

Our starters really clicked in the 2nd half and Green came off the bench to give us some quick offense. He took a bad spill but looked good after, hitting two 3s that extended the lead. Oso, Bouyea and Goodie gave us good minutes off the bench again. Oso's been one of our best, most consistent players lately.

[Mori Chu]

This was a great win. This B2B pair of wins against Detroit and now Cleveland is maybe our best 1-2 set of wins of the season taken together, given the degree of difficulty and the absence of Booker. I honestly didn't think the team had it in themselves to keep this much of their composure without their star, and it's been great to see.

Brooks was the standout again offensively with 27, but I also thought all our other guards and swings like Grayson, CG, and Royce played great. Goodwin was awesome off the bench; when his shot is falling (5-8 from 3 in this game) he is a huge asset.

I thought Jalen Green looked pretty good, too; a little tentative since he's just coming back, and can the man please have one game where he doesn't scare us with some kind of fall or limp or potential injury?, but I like the way he integrates into the offense as a primary scorer and driver to the basket. Helps take pressure off Brooks to make something happen on broken offensive plays.

Maybe the only downside was the way the bench players failed to hold the lead in the 4th. We were up by nearly 30 and then they let Cleveland back to almost within 10 points. They seemed to have a bunch of trouble with pressure defenses and turned the ball over a bunch. My man BOUYEA and Livers and others seemed to just cough the ball up a bunch trying to get up the floor. So I hope Ott works on that with them; we need to be able to put those guys out there against other teams' end-of-benches and have them mostly manage the game and hold the lead. But I was happy to see that no player played more than 27 minutes (Grayson) and most of the guys I mentioned above were in the 22-24 range. To do that against one of the best teams in the East on a B2B without Booker is just unreal.

I thought we were headed for a bit of a swoon without Book, but the team has really taken this as a challenge to hold it together while he is out. I love to see it. Shows a lot about the toughness and character of this team. We are for real.

[Kryptonic]

This was a great play:

Definitely looks like something those two worked on with how smooth it played.

[Superbone]

Maybe the only downside was the way the bench players failed to hold the lead in the 4th. We were up by nearly 30 and then they let Cleveland back to almost within 10 points. They seemed to have a bunch of trouble with pressure defenses and turned the ball over a bunch. My man BOUYEA and Livers and others seemed to just cough the ball up a bunch trying to get up the floor. So I hope Ott works on that with them; we need to be able to put those guys out there against other teams' end-of-benches and have them mostly manage the game and hold the lead. But I was happy to see that no player played more than 27 minutes (Grayson) and most of the guys I mentioned above were in the 22-24 range. To do that against one of the best teams in the East on a B2B without Booker is just unreal.

I hope this turns into a positive and helps the guys to not get too happy on the farm. Let's them know they still have work to do and it's another area to improve upon. I like that coach Ott's philosophy is to continue to try to get a little better with each passing day. His practice sessions seem to be incredible and this team, man, is a real team! They play for each other and want to continue to get better and believe in their coach.

[Superbone]

This was a great play:

Definitely looks like something those two worked on with how smooth it played.

Yeah, there was a recent AZSports article about how connected Oso and Gillespie are.

[Superbone]