Shooting Woes Cost Cavs In Loss to Utah

The Cleveland Cavaliers three game winning streak was snapped on Monday Night, as they fell to the Utah Jazz 94-85 at the Vivint Smart Home Arena.

The NBA is a make or miss league and the Cavaliers learnt that the hard way on Monday Night, as they shot just 39.8% on their way to an ugly loss to the Jazz.

Cleveland, coincidentally, were coming off one of their most impressive offensive performances against the Los Angeles Clippers the night prior, where they put up 114 points, while shooting the ball at a 48.9% clip.

In that game, the Cavs connected on 18 three-point attempts but they struggled to find that some mojo in Salt Lake City. Despite shooting 42 threes, the Cavaliers connected on just 10 of them, a 23.8% rate. Conversely, the Jazz had no such issues from beyond the arc, draining 12-of-27 (44.4%) triples.

LeBron James led the way for Cleveland, scoring 23 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Kyrie Irving scored 15 points but was a poor 7-of-23 from the field on the night. The final member of the Cavs big three, Kevin Love, had 12 points and nine rebounds, the exact stat line he had against LA the night before.

For the Jazz, Rodney Hood put up 28 points, shooting 9-of-16 from the field and Derrick Favors had 19 points and five rebounds.

Channing Frye and Trey Lyles both got themselves ejected late in the fourth quarter, after the two-butted heads. It appeared Lyles’ caught Frye below the belt with an elbow when trying to create space, which led to the confrontation.

Here are three things we learned from the Cavs loss.

Live by the three, die by the three

As aforementioned, the Cavaliers couldn’t miss against the Clippers, hitting 18 triples, which is the most they have hit in a game this season.

It was the polar opposite against the Jazz, as Cleveland created quality three-point attempts but simply couldn’t knock them down. If the Cavs were settling for the long distance shots and not working the offense, it would be a problem. However, seeing that the Cavaliers were moving the ball relatively well and creating good looks, the misses aren’t as frustrating. Cleveland is a team full of knockdown shooters, so chalk this one down as simply a bad night at the office.

Irving was 1-of-9 from downtown, J.R. Smith went 1-of-8, Matthew Dellavedova 1-of-5, Love 2-of-7 and James 2-of-6. Irving, in particular, seemed to be the most upset about all the misses, as he got an extra workout in after the loss.

“We have a thing now where it’s like, if you have any air space and that shot’s there, we’re taking it,” Love said after the Clippers win, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “So I don’t know what’s too much. But when that shot’s there, you have to take it.”

The Cavaliers certainty lived by this motto against the Jazz, despite them bricking shot after shot. You could spin that into a positive and say the team stayed with the game plan without being affected by the slew of misses. On the other hand, an argument can be made that the Cavs settled too much for the long ball, especially with the misses piling up. Coach Tyronn Lue seems to lean towards the former.

“We just couldn’t make shots early,” coach Lue said, via cavs.com. “10-from-42 from three, just coming off a game where we shot almost 50% from three, so you know, it’s just one of those games.”

Weak inside

An area of relative concern for the Cavaliers all season long has been the lack of a true rim protector. Timofey Mozgov’s production in that aspect has fallen off a cliff, Tristan Thompson, while being a great defender, isn’t an intimidating presence at the basket and Love is a poor defender.

These concerns were amplified against the Jazz, as the Cavaliers constantly allowed Utah’s guards to get into the lane and finish with little resistance. Utah finished the contest shooting 49.3% from the field, staying around the 50% mark all night long.

This also trickled down to the bigs, as they struggled to deal with Favors and Rudy Gobert. The Jazz outrebounded the Cavaliers, albeit by just one rebound, but Favors and Gobert combined for 24 points and 16 rebounds. Love, Mozgov and Thompson combined for 21 points and 15 rebounds.

38.3% of Utah’s points came in the paint against the Cavs and they shot 52.0% on two-point shots, some alarming figures for the Cavaliers defense.

Cleveland’s defense has been on the decline ever since Lue took over as head coach and that is a trend that must be reversed come playoff time.

Struggling with absent superstars

The Cavs have started to form a habit this season where they lose to teams missing their best player or a combination of their best players. The Utah loss was no different, as the Jazz were without Gordon Hayward, their leading scorer and the same guy who hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer the last time Cleveland were in Salt Lake.

Hayward missed the game with planter fasciitis in his right foot and is averaging 20.1 points per game this season, a career high. The former Butler Bulldog also contributes 4.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.

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The Cavs have lost this season to the Memphis Grizzlies (without Mike Conley, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol), the Charlotte Hornets (without Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson) and other games where they simply didn’t show their superior talent over the opposition.

No one really has an answer as to why the Cavs have struggled to beat teams who are missing their stars. Maybe its boredom or maybe its playing down to the opposition.

Either way, it is a habit, that while it isn’t ideal, shouldn’t cause the Cavs much grievances come playoff time.