Dribbles: Cavs return home as one of NBA’s hottest teams

Random dribbles ahead of the Cavaliers’ home game vs the Chicago Bulls on Monday.

1. The Cavs are back in the U.S. after beating the Nets in Paris and what felt like a month away. They’ve played one game in eight days. With football season over in Cleveland, all eyes will shift on where the Cavs go from here.

2. I’ve taken off for a stretch and am not yet back in town. So I’ll be covering this one off the television. My guess is you won’t notice. What’s more important to notice is this — the Cavs (22-15) have won four straight and six of eight.

3. Entering the NBA’s celebration of the iconic Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, the Cavs sat in fourth place in the Eastern Conference. That’s where they finished last season. The race is even tighter this year.

4. Yes, they’ve done all this while battling through some major Cleveland Browns-like injuries to their main players, notably Darius Garland and Evan Mobley. It just goes to show their depth and togetherness.

5. People love to blame the front office and coaching staff for everything that goes wrong — but you have to give credit to president of basketball operations Koby Altman for assembling a roster that can survive obstacles, and for coach JB Bickerstaff for keeping everyone believing.

6. Now, Max Strus (knee soreness) could be out too. At least for the night. He suffered the injury in the first half of the Paris win and did not return. Strus is the one starter who has yet to miss a game. Let’s just hope it’s not anything serious. In the world of this year’s Cavs, you can’t help but think the worst.

7. On the bright side, Garland appears to be targeting a return by the end of the month. That means in two weeks. We’ll be able to update this within the next couple days. But given how well things have gone, the Cavs certainly won’t rush back Garland from his jaw injury or Mobley from his knee issue.

8. Donovan Mitchell was outstanding in his French game, erupting for 45 points, including 21 in the fourth quarter. Legendary guard Mark Price told me on his podcast that if Mitchell gets it going like last year, the Cavs could go places when entirely healthy. In France, we got the Mitchell that we saw for most of last season.

9. I’ve written a few posts about the Cavs potentially looking for a 3-and-D wing before the Feb. 8 trade deadline. That appears to be the case. But they don’t want to shake up things too much by any stretch. Just know this — if Altman pulls off a deal, it’s because the Cavs believe they can contend for a championship when healthy and are just a piece away.

10. And even if the Cavs don’t think it, I do. If they disagree, they can start their own website. Oh, wait. They already have a pretty good one.

11. Meanwhile, the Bulls (19-22) are again mostly a mess and arrive in Cleveland surrounded by lots of trade rumors. Most center around guard Zach LaVine. As we relayed here, the Bulls would really want to move him and he reportedly would be happy to leave. Good luck with all that.

12. I’ll have more after the game. Thanks as always for following along. Like the Cavs, I’m planning to turn it up a notch in the second half of the season.