J.B. Bickerstaff | Cavs at Rockets Post Game | 3.16.2024

J.B. Bickerstaff | Cavs at Rockets Post Game | 3.16.2024

Uh I mean it was early in the ball game you could see um you know that we were being outworked we were being outs scrapped um you know they were coming up with offensive rebounds 50-50 balls um you we weren’t in the right places defensively and for us you know we talk

About it you know the defense sets our tone um you know we’ll figure out a way typically to manage you know to manufacture enough points um but if we’re not getting it done on the defensive end uh we don’t give ourselves a chance to win I guess after the game

That you had against new like how frustrating is that to to play so well and then not have those yeah I mean it’s it’s disappointing um you know for sure we are you know seems like you know riding a roller coaster right now um you know play great good win come back you

Know have a tough game the next night or next opportunity uh we always seem to find a way to bounce back so I’ll give our guys credit for that um but you know we got to continue to hold ourselves to the standard um and tonight you know

That first half in particular we did not hold ourselves to our standard um and you know again playing against a team that uh is as competitive as the Rockets are and capable as they are uh they made us pay were you surprised when uh Doan did come back I mean surprised no just

Because of who he is um you know he wants to be out there with his guys uh he wants to fight you know give himself an opportunity to see if he can help us win basketball games um you know he is a tough dude um you know plays through a

Lot um so I wasn’t necessarily surprised um because that’s just who Donovan is coach just seem like Caris had some juice tonight maybe one of the only guys what do you see from him uh Carris has just been he’s been consistent um you know he’s done a great job of being attack-minded

Facilitating um you know sharing the basketball creating for others um you know defensively he’s a pest you know he’s he’s hard to read on the ball um you know creates deflection but keeps his guys in front of him and keeps him off balance so I think he’s been

Consistent for us and I think he did it again tonight what you think of Tristan coming back yeah it’s rough um but you know again he brings that energy that juice but um you know when you’re you know in the position that he was in it’s

Just going to take a little bit of time to play basketball uh you can’t simulate it you know 25 games is a long time um to be out and you just can’t simulate the speed of the game the conditioning of the game uh in the middle of a season

So um you know again we know Tristan he gives us life he gives us energy uh he’s just going to take him some time to work his way back JB Donovan has been held below the 20o mark for the last five games are you noticing anything there and is there any

Level of concern that the knee is still bothering him I mean there there’s you know I don’t want to speak out of school on this one um you know but Donovan’s giving it what he’s got uh he’s trying to go out play compete uh one of the

Things I think he’s doing is he’s doing a great job of sharing the ball um you know getting others involved and trying to work his way back in you know obviously he missed some time uh and it’s not always easy to just come right back in um so um you know I’m not

Concerned about Donovan’s game um because I know you know at any level when he’s on the floor he’s given us a chance to win if he’s Limited in any way moving forward how do you make up for for that it’s everybody everybody’s got to tick up uh and that’s what we’ve

Typically done uh in the past is everybody you know has stepped their own game Up played to their strength uh and we’ve proven that we can do it um because we’ve always done it together and that’s the focus of uh every single night every conversation we have you know it’s about the whole

Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff spoke to the media following a 117-103 loss to the Houston Rockets on March 16, 2024 at Toyota Center.