Cavs let Schroder cook in 4th, regain series contr…

"I felt like I had to say something to the group, so we can rise and go play Cavs basketball and play to our standards." Schroder, a 32-year-old veteran who came to Cleveland in a February trade, said he implored the team to return to the principles the team was built on, playing through their bigs, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen , while playing with more aggression and energy. It's the first time the Cavs have won a playoff game after trailing to begin the fourth quarter since 2018, when they came back to beat the Raptors in the 2018 Eastern conference semifinals, as reported by ESPN Research. "When we were talking about trading for [Schroder], that was one of the thing that came up: This guy has played in huge games in the NBA and then on the international scene," Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said.

"He was, as we like to call him, Dennis the menace tonight." At one point, while Schroder had it going in the fourth quarter, Atkinson attempted to make a substitution to bring Donovan Mitchell and Mobley back into the game. The Cavs gave up 23 points off turnovers in the first half but committed only five of their 15 turnovers in the second half and one in the fourth quarter while Schroder was sharing ball-handling duties. And yet, Schroder had seen limited action in this series before Game 5, averaging just 11.3 minutes per game through the first four games and sitting out the entire second half of Game 3 before his outburst on Wednesday.

Source: ESPN Sports