Why The Cavs Win Last Night Meant More Than People Think.

CLEVELAND- The Cavs decided they wanted to win the game and the fight last night as they beat down on the 2-seed Memphis Grizzlies in dramatic fashion.

Late in the third quarter Donovan Mitchell and opposing guard Dillon Brooks got into a heated exchange after Dillon Brooks seemingly took a cheap shot at Mitchell below the belt. Benches cleared and both Brooks and Mitchell were ejected.

Now, on paper, losing Mitchell may have spelled doom for the Cavs heading down the stretch in a close game, but it was just the opposite. The Cavs had a combined 6 players over double-digit point totals and shot a combined 53.8% from the field and 48.3% from three.

Maybe it was the team galvanizing after the cheap shot to their running mate, maybe the Cavs were tired of the losing skid they were on and were destined to break it, or maybe this Cavs team is on the edge of figuring it out.

There is no question that the Cavs had a different energy after the Mitchell ejection, but they were also poised and collected despite the high rise of emotions.

“Sometimes people mistake our kindness for weakness,” said head coach JB Bickerstaff when asked how his team was able to handle their emotions “We don’t have those brash, trash-talking, instigating type of guys. But What our guys are is physically and mentally tough.”

The Cavs figured out a lot of issues that have been plaguing them in this game. The bench finally started to compliment the starters despite not being fully healthy.

Cedi Osman and Ricky Rubio combined for 34 points off of the Cavs bench. Osman continued his red-hot shooting, but the story is Rubio.

The Cavs were seemingly in wait-and-see mode with their bench awaiting Rubio's return to the court. It was a slow start for Rubio, but he finally started to look like the piece that will bolster the Cavs bench. However, it does not stop at Rubio.

Jarrett Allen’s troubles against opposing centers have been well noted; mainly his inability to take advantage of smaller matchups. Allen has played the Cavs out of games recently and has not looked like the All-Star Cavs fans have been accustomed to seeing, but last night he asserted himself when the Cavs needed him most. Allen was what the Cavs needed offensively and defensively.

Allen finished with a stat line of 18-4-11 and capped it off with 2 Blocks. The impact he had with Darius Garland in the pick-and-roll game was seemingly impossible for the Grizzlies to stop; a big reason why Garland was able to rack up his 11 assists to go along with his 32-point effort.

One game out of Donovan assuring Cavs fans that “the sky is not falling” they put together a complete game on both sides of the ball against a top team in the west. There have been plenty of question marks throughout the year that is gradually being answered as the Cavs continue towards the All-Star break, but this win seemed as if the Cavs were pushing all the right buttons.

“I think it helped us a lot actually” Said Garland when asked about how their emotions carried them “we were locked in focused on getting a win instead of focusing on other things."

Silencing the noise for a team this young is an impressive feat. This win could have an impact further than just one game. Do not be surprised if this leads to a major run for this young Cavalier team.