Kenny Atkinson has spent the past week pushing Cleveland to feed Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, and Saturday night gave him the kind of answer he’d been looking for.
The Cavaliers leaned into their size and buried the Bucks 136-111 on Halloween, with Allen and Mobley driving the offense from the start. Against a Milwaukee frontcourt missing the kind of muscle that used to be there - Giannis Antetokounmpo is gone, Bobby Portis Jr. went to Miami with him, and Brook Lopez has not been around for years - Cleveland made the paint its playground.
Allen set the tone immediately. He muscled his way around the rim for 10 of his 25 points in the first quarter, a clear sign that the Cavs intended to attack Milwaukee’s interior weakness instead of settling for something softer.
Mobley followed with a second-quarter burst that kept the pressure on. He scored 13 points in the period, hit all five of his shots, and kept finding himself in motion, catching the ball in spots where he didn’t have to manufacture everything himself. He finished with a game-high 27 points on 11 of 16 shooting, and buried 10 of his final 11 attempts.
Cleveland’s approach showed up in the numbers as much as the eye test. The Cavs scored 72 points in the first half, with 40 coming in the paint, a major shift for a team that had ranked 27th in paint scoring through its first five games. They kept going after halftime, finishing with 60 points in the paint to match their season high and going 30 of 49 inside.
That kind of production matters because Allen and Mobley are two of the team’s highest-paid players, and their value is usually discussed first on defense. They’re the anchors Cleveland leans on to clean up mistakes, protect the rim and cover for breakdowns at the point of attack.
But Atkinson wants more than that. He doesn’t want his big men reduced to screen-and-roll duty, rebounds and spacing. Allen and Mobley don’t create much for themselves, which means Donovan Mitchell, James Harden and the rest of the ball-dominant group have to keep them involved and keep the touches coming.
Saturday was the clearest version of that idea yet. Mobley had a season high in shot attempts, as did Allen, and both finished with 16 looks while the higher-usage Harden and Mitchell took a step back.
For the Cavs, that should not be a one-night adjustment. It should be part of what they do.
In Other News...
Cavs Just Unlocked A Formula The Bucks Couldnt Handle
Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley gave Cleveland exactly the kind of inside-out punch that can tilt a game before it fully settles in. Both big men were active on offense and sturdy on defense, and the Cavaliers made a point of using them to disrupt Milwaukees shape at the other end. Donovan Mitchell and Mario Hezonja chipped in as well, but the night felt defined by how often Cleveland leaned into its size and how hard the Bucks had to work just to keep pace.
For Milwaukee, the problem was less about one isolated breakdown than a defense that never really found a clean answer for Clevelands frontcourt pressure. The Cavs kept feeding their bigs and forcing the Bucks to deal with them possession after possession, a formula that made the floor feel cramped for the visitors. Tyler Herro was also mentioned as underperforming, which only added to the sense that Cleveland had found a matchup edge the Bucks could not quite solve. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Still Face One Playoff Concern Their Deeper Roster Can't Hide
The Cavaliers have spent the offseason building out the kind of depth and versatility that should make them harder to scheme against, adding Peyton Watson to address a roster need and leaning into a lineup that already includes interior anchors like Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley. On paper, it is the sort of group that can survive different styles, cover more defensive ground and keep Cleveland from becoming too dependent on any one rotation pattern when the games tighten in the spring.
Still, the larger question around this team has not gone away after its run to the Eastern Conference Finals ended in a sweep by the Knicks. The Cavaliers can stack talent and length all they want, but postseason success will keep coming back to whether their star backcourt can carry the offense when pressure rises, and whether Donovan Mitchell in particular can deliver the kind of late-game control that separates a good playoff team from one that keeps moving deeper. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Keep Making One Offensive Mistake That Cost Them Again
The Cavaliers had another one of those nights where the margins were small but the offensive choices loomed large. In a close loss to the Hawks, Cleveland again leaned on tough half-court possessions instead of turning athleticism into easy transition points, even though the roster has the kind of players who should be able to punish open floor chances.
That imbalance showed up in the way the game unfolded, with Atlanta repeatedly finding simpler scoring opportunities while Cleveland settled for shots that asked a lot more of the offense. For a team trying to stack wins in a crowded East, the bigger concern is not just the final score but how often the Cavaliers are leaving points on the table by passing up the quickest path to them. [Read more 🡒]