The Cleveland Cavaliers hung tough for a while against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, but Cleveland ultimately fell 131-111. That one was a reminder that at times, the Cavaliers are simply going to be out-gunned.
A 2-4 start this season is not anything extraordinary, but fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers know the team is amid a full-rebuild.
The Cavs have hung tough most of the time in game action, and though they did ultimately lose to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday 131-111, they at least were right in it for three quarters and trailed by four heading into the fourth.
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Even so, Mavs budding superstar playmaker Luka Doncic lit up the box score with 29 points, 15 assists and 14 rebounds (per ESPN).
As our own Tyler Marling detailed, Cleveland had no answer for the 6-foot-7 Doncic, whether that meant Cavs wing Cedi Osman, rookie wing Kevin Porter Jr., or anyone else in pick-and-roll coverage, and how perspective teams defend Doncic going forward is a question I have no answer to.
Moreover, with the size of Dallas, Cleveland young guards Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, who together make an undersized starting backcourt, had a world of trouble. They combined to shoot just seven-of-22 (including one-of-eight from three-point land), and were together a minus-29, per ESPN.
The struggles of the two led to them being benched for the final 9:05 of the third quarter by head coach John Beilein, as Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor pointed out, and Beilein, per Fedor, “thought Garland and Sexton needed to learn by watching for a bit.”
Anyhow, though Cleveland got an outstanding performance from Kevin Love, who had 29 points, and hit five-of-11 from deep to go with eight rebounds and had the only positive plus/minus (a plus-five, per ESPN), it was clear that the Cavs were out-gunned.
Dallas’ bigs in that one, especially Kristaps Porzingis, who had 18 points and a whopping six blocks, and gargantuan 7-foot-4 reserve 5 Boban Marjanovic, who had 12 points and eight rebounds and was a game-high plus-25 in 15 minutes (per ESPN), were simply players the Cavs couldn’t account for.
Throwing in Doncic’s all-around impact, and key role pieces in Seth Curry, Jalen Brunson, Delon Wright and Tim Hardaway Jr. on the perimeter, and this sort of contest, where the Cavs gave up 41 points in the last quarter, was a reminder that at times with them rebuilding, the Cleveland Cavaliers are simply going to be out-gunned.
Not having veteran reserve guard Matthew Dellavedova for the second straight game (reportedly for a personal matter) didn’t help the Cavs’ and Beilein, either, and the Cavs clearly missed not having bigs John Henson (hamstring) and potentially Ante Zizic (plantar fasciitis) in this Dallas game, in particular.
Beilein seems to be the right man for the job in regards to a rebuild, however, given that he’s been willing and able to do so everywhere he’s been in coaching, with most recently at Michigan.
The Cavs have been highly competitive in most of their games in 2019-20, though, and it’s obvious that when they are moving the ball, they can be very efficient and generate good three-point looks, as evidenced by Love’s success from deep from deliveries from players such as Garland, who had five assists, yesterday.
That being said, in this rebuild, with the Cleveland Cavaliers needing to play so many young pieces, and with them clearly needing more help across the board defensively, which could come some in near future drafts, there’s going to games where avalanches come, such as Dallas’ 41-point fourth quarter.
In certain matchups, there won’t be much Beilein and the coaching staff will be able to do.
Given Cleveland’s lack of size, the Cavs had to help often near the interior, and the Mavs were able to get three-point looks at will, and they made 20 of them on a 48.8% clip (per ESPN).
Overall, this young Wine and Gold squad is going to have their share of rough stretches and the mistakes will come, but in some instances, they just won’t match up well, and against the Mavs, there was a reminder of that.
In some other instances throughout losses, there have been silly turnovers and mistakes in crucial moments.
Yesterday, I really just felt bad for the Cavs’ coaching staff, because there was really little they could do.
Over time, though, I believe the Cavaliers’ backcourt will be more effective than they were on Sunday, and on the bright side, Love looked great and Osman is making some strides defensively.
Nonetheless, in this rebuild, sometimes Beilein simply won’t have the answers, and Sunday was one of those times. Beilein, in turn, can’t let these sort of bad losses get to him and then carry over, and I don’t believe he will.
Throughout 2019-20 these sort of occurrences will happen, especially against particularly uncommon opponents such as Dallas, but hopefully as this season progresses, the Cavaliers will be able to adjust more in-game to level it out some and have a better feel for how to get the young pieces in more favorable spots.