J.B. Bickerstaff | Cavs vs Suns | 3.11.2024

J.B. Bickerstaff | Cavs vs Suns | 3.11.2024

What was the decision behind containing to continue to keep Craig on the court tonight what about his play made you want to keep him out there I I think he played well um you know he gave us another uh ball handler who could help break down uh their defense um you know

He was shooting it with confidence uh he helped us rebound the basketball um you know so I thought all the things that we needed to try to win uh he was giving them to us Harris not usually in the starting lineup but today he had 11 assists what does his added facilitation

Bring to a team and allow for Darius to have 30 points like he did tonight uh I mean he just you know makes everybody’s job easier um and he’s so unselfish that’s that’s what I love about Caris um you know he has an attack mindset uh but

It’s not attack just for him you know he attacks to look and find his teammates um you know and I thought he did a great job of that tonight je uh Terry had 21 after the first quarter but only nine after that what did they do defensively

To to slow him down uh they just started trapping him more um and trying to get the ball out of his hands you know when he was playing the pick and roll uh they switched their matchups so that different guys were guarding you know our centers and that type of thing uh

And he did the right thing you know they put two on him he got off the ball uh and we just had to make the play behind him spener Davis cider uh obviously there’s not too much to to look at and not be pleased with with the assists and

The the turnovers keeping it pretty much like that but um does this come down to one play for you was it was it just the end of the game there where where couldn’t get Jared get couldn’t get his hands on the ball uh I mean that’s a

Tough play um I mean we’ve seen Jared Allen make that play you know 400 times in a row um so that was just a tough play and it it never comes down to just that play um you know we’ve got to do a better job and again I I’ve got to do a

Better job at helping our guys um you know we just got to score more than 41 points in a half um so give them credit their defense was sound they did a great job um but that’s on me to help our guys you know find easier ways to score and

How much is that the third quarter coming out ready for well I mean that’s I mean obviously you know to give up the 34 and only scored 21 um you know we didn’t make enough plays in that quarter again they switched their matchups and those types of things uh just you know

Kind of filled the paint um I thought our guys did a great job of uh still executing our stuff and creating for one another um you know shots just didn’t go for us coach Darius has struggled a little bit in the fourth quarter lately what have you been talking to him about saw

I’m talking to you during the game about trying to continue to keep his spirits high in those moments uh I mean it’s just the you know the expectation of what the defense is going to do um and they’re not always going to let him play

You know what I mean so uh they’re going to switch more they’re going to trap him more uh and he just has to keep making the right play and I think he’s done a good job of that um you know not forcing the issue trying to do too much um

Trusting his teammates cuz that’s going to go longer uh for us than you know any one given night um is that he continues to trust they believe that he trusts them and then we’ll make the right plays you know we’ll get healthy uh and we’ll

Be in a good place obviously Isaac had a tough match up tonight with whoever he was guarding how would you evaluate his performance tonight I mean Isaac is steady you know what I mean like he does the job he makes things extremely difficult on people um I mean they’ve

Got you know some three of the most prolific scores that we’ve ever seen um you know so they’re tough matchups out there and and you know on those types of nights against those guys all you can do is make it tough and I thought Isaac did that okay

Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff spoke with the media following a 117-111 loss to the Phoenix Suns on March 11, 2024 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.