Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman stuck to his beliefs the last two years even as outside pressure suggested the core of the team couldn’t work well together, and now that faith in his ability to put a team together is paying off. The Cavaliers beat the visiting Bucks, 116-114, on Nov. 4 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse just two nights after Donovan Mitchell drained 19-foot pullup jumper with three-tenths of a second left to finish off a 114-113 thriller over the Bucks in Milwaukee. Winning the rematch tied a franchise record for the best start of a season (8-0) set way back in 1976-77. That team Cavs team finished 43-39. Caris LeVert (right knee soreness), Dean Wade (illness) and Max Strus (sprained ankle) missed the rematch for the Cavaliers. Giannis Antetokounmpo (right abductor strain) and Khris Middleton (ankle) missed the game for the Bucks. "This group is selfless. That was a mental fortitude game tonight," Coach Kenny Atkinson said Monday night after the #Cavaliers rallied to beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 116-114, at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. pic.twitter.com/KL8gf5bG4u — Jeff Schudel (@jsproinsider) November 5, 2024 The Cavs went ice-cold in the third quarter Nov. 4 after leading, 73-60, at halftime. They trailed, 106-98, with 6:06 to play, but Darius Garland scored 12 of his game-high 39 points in the last six minutes to help keep the Cavs undefeated. The last two games the Cavs proved they can win when the score is tight at the end. “I told the guys (during a timeout) with five minutes left, ‘This is what it’s all about,’” Coach Kenny Atkinson said. “’How are we going to execute? How are we going to finish this game?’ “There was no panic. If you want to succeed in the playoffs, you have to be really good in the pressure moments. We practice pressure situations. Fortunately, we came out on top.” The Cavaliers and Bucks are on opposite trajectories. The Bucks, 2021 NBA champions, are last in the NBA East at 1-6. The Cavaliers, 22-50 in 2021, are the only unbeaten team in the East. This is the third season Mitchell and Darius Garland have been together in the Cleveland backcourt. It is the fourth year 6-foot-11 Evan Mobley and 6-foot-11 Jarrett Allen have been together in the front court. One sequence in the Nov. 4 game illustrated how the hierarchy has changed in the conference: Mobley scored on a floating bank shot with 9:33 left in the second quarter for a 40-33 Cavs lead. Thirteen seconds later, at the opposite end of the court, Mobley, with authority, rejected a driving layup by Delon Wright. Mobley gathered the rebound, dribbled the length of the floor and hammered home a running dunk for his 10th and 11th points of the night, much to the delight of the sold-out FieldHouse crowd. The only change, and obviously it was a big one, was hiring Atkinson after Altman fired J.B. Bickerstaff as head coach. Atkinson before his team played the Bucks on Nov. 4 said the fact the Cavaliers already knew each other made it easier for him to step in and implement his own coaching philosophy. Donovan Mitchell directs Nov. 4 against the Bucks. (Tim Phillis – for The News-Herald) “There was really a big push to start it as soon as possible,” Atkinson said. “Even in open gym (over the summer), Donovan, Darius and I talked about, ‘What does it look like? What is the spacing going to look like with the big group, the spread group?’ “I knew we had to start it early. When they were playing in open gym, I started to see it. You could see them implement it — not to a T because we weren’t practicing, but it started early.” While Altman chose to keep the Cavaliers roster together through hard times, the Bucks took a completely different path after winning the NBA championship. Mike Budenholzer, who coached the 2021 championship team, was fired after the top-seeded Bucks were eliminated by the eighth-seed Heat in the 2023 playoffs. Adrian Griffin was hired to replace Budenholzer. Griffin was fired midway through last season despite a 30-13 record. Doc Rivers has been a failure as Griffin’s replacement. About two weeks before the 2023-24 regular season began, the Bucks acquired Damian Lillard from Portland for four players and Milwaukee’s 2029 first-round draft pick. The trade has no paid dividends. Jrue Holiday was one of the players sent to the Trail Blazers. Portland then traded Holiday to the Celtics. Holiday helped Boston win the NBA championship last spring. It is rare when a blockbuster trade works out as well as the one the Cavs made to acquire Mitchell from the Jazz in September 2022. The Cavs traded Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji plus first-round picks in 2025, 2027 and 2029 to the Jazz for Mitchell. Utah has the option of swapping picks if the Cavs have a better draft position in 2026 and/or 2028. The trade tilted even more in Cleveland’s favor when Mitchell signed a three-year contract extension over the summer. The Antetokounmpo-Lillard pairing and coaching changes have not worked for the Bucks. A coaching change and keeping the status quo is working for the Cavaliers. Sometimes less is more.