Cavaliers enjoyed In-Season Tournament but would change one thing

INDEPENDENCE — Despite not advancing to the In-Season Tournament's knockout round, the Cavaliers were pleased with their showing in the inaugural event. They finished 3-1 in the tourney and routed the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The players enjoyed the competition but would tinker with one of the rules, as some players voiced their concern with the point differential tiebreaker after the 128-105 win over the Hawks. Late in the game, Atlanta took out its starters but the Cavs were still trying to run up the score. They wanted to win by at least 20 points. In the end, it didn't matter since the New York Knicks ran roughshod over the Charlotte Hornets, 115-91, to barge their way into the lone wild-card spot. The Knicks finished group play plus-42 while Cleveland was plus-29. "We're not in the quarterfinals," Cavs swingman Max Strus said. "The final minutes of not knowing with point differentials, it kind of sucks. For the purpose of basketball reasons, you're not supposed to do that. Both sides knew what was going on. If they were in our shoes, they would have done the same thing. You don't want to do that for the principle of the thing." Cavs point guard Darius Garland was also bothered with running up the score. "It was fun with great intensity," he said. "We took it personal tonight. It was a great team effort. "We had to win by a certain amount of points. It's kind of different. It's not respecting the game as much as I want it to be. I took a shot with like 25 seconds left and I didn't feel comfortable doing it. We try to respect the game as much as possible." Garland said he enjoyed the experience, "but the point differential is something a lot of people around the league would like to change." Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said the In-Season Tournament was a rousing success, but instead of playing four games, he'd like teams to play eight. Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell snapped a shooting slump with his 40-point, 11-rebound effort against Atlanta. He also felt a little strange jacking up shots late in the game with the outcome already well in hand. "Let's score but let's respect the game," he said. "At the end of the day, we were playing to win and get to (Las) Vegas. "You definitely wanted to get to the championship and get the extra bread, but you look at the little things we've done in the last few days." Players on the winning team will get $500,000 each, with the runner-up team's players getting $200,000. Group play is now complete and only eight teams advance to the single-elimination knockout round. Indiana, Milwaukee, Boston and New York remain in the East, with the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans, Sacramento and Phoenix in the West. The championship will be Dec. 9 in Las Vegas. "The intensity level, the focus and the little nuances of the game are playoff-like," Mitchell said. "You're going through these moments in November. It's great for the fans to see and it's also great for us." After being eliminated from the tourney, two regular-season games were added to the Cavs' schedule: at home vs. Orlando on Dec. 6 and at Miami on Dec. 8. Bob Finnan can be reached at rfinnan30@gmail.com. Follow him @BobCavsinsider on X.