East Notes: Cavs, Max Strus, Hawks, Bulls

Cavaliers

Guard Max Strus said he was in a good flow leading up to his 59-footer at the buzzer to beat the Mavericks on Tuesday.

“The last five felt pretty good,” he told reporters. “I felt a rhythm and it’s fun when you do that. Every time I shot it, I felt like it was going in, and it was. Same with the last one.”

Strus finished with 21 points, including four 3-pointers in just more than a minute in the all-important fourth quarter.

“What he did tonight was absolutely ridiculous to come back in that fourth quarter for us to be down the way we were,” coach JB Bickerstaff said. “But that’s who Max is. And it’s as simple sometimes as chasing down a loose ball or making an extra rotation. Max never quits and we were down and he had the same mentality.

“He wasn’t going to quit and he just kept making play after play after play on both ends.”

• For more on the game and the Cavs overall, check out the latest Dribbles. The Cavs return to action on Wednesday night in Chicago.
• Also, I talked with host Chase Smith about all things Cavs on the latest podcast right after the game. You can check out the full episode here.

Hawks

• The Hawks have won two straight since learning star guard Trae Young will miss at least a month after hand/finger surgery. The latest came in Tuesday’s easy victory over the Jazz.
• That game also marked the first time coach Quin Snyder faced his former team. He coached Utah from 2014-22. “There are so many ways that time impacted me and my family,” Snyder told reporters before the game. “They were great years.”
• Meanwhile, Jazz forward John Collins scored five points and grabbed 10 rebounds in his first return to Atlanta since being traded in June. “He was emotional, wiping tears from his eyes, when hugging former teammates and Hawks staff members on the court during pregame warmups,” the Associated Press wrote.

Bulls

The Bulls went a miserable 2-of-29 on threes in Tuesday’s stunning home loss to the lowly Pistons.

“I was like laughing in my head because when you look at it — I think. what were we, 2 for 30? — that’s just crazy,” guard Ayo Dosunmu said. “What are the odds? You take it. It’s the beauty of basketball. Some nights, you’ll go 6 for 6, 7 for 7. Some nights, the ball doesn’t go in. That’s when you’ve got to really focus in on those details. That’s when you have to grind it out, get to the free-throw line, get more stops than usual.”

• Chicago has lost three of four entering Wednesday’s home game against the Cavs. The Bulls are the only team the Pistons have beaten twice this season.
• Coach Billy Donovan on the loss: “Certainly 2-for-29 . . . a total outlier game in terms of that kind of shooting. But the other thing, too, and I’m hoping we can really learn from a lot of this is it wasn’t like we were down 25 because of it. I thought the loose balls, the hustle plays, the offensive rebounds into transition, we still had opportunities to overcome it. … When things aren’t going your way, you’ve got to manufacture other things to try to offset that.”