The Cleveland Cavaliers look to snap a three-game skid on the road at the Washington Wizards on Friday. Here’s a few things to look out for in that one.
Objectively, a 2-5 start is not all that bad for the Cleveland Cavaliers in this 2019-20 season.
They’ve had plenty of rough patches, and that’s to be expected with them playing a bunch of young players big minutes, but the Wine and Gold have hung in there and given themselves a good chance down the stretch in most games.
Cleveland head coach John Beilein and the coaching staff deserve plenty of credit for that, and when the Cavs have been at their best, they’ve had productive man and ball movement, which is what a young team should be preaching.
With that, some bad turnovers should be expected, though, and they have come at times, but again, that’s understandable.
Against the Boston Celtics in Cleveland’s last game, though the Cavs had plenty of clunky possessions in the first half, in particular, it was a positive that they only had nine turnovers as was noted by ESPN, and as the game progressed, the Cavaliers did get more clean looks, often from better ball and man movement.
Unfortunately in the end, Cleveland lost 119-113, and some mental errors, such as a missed box-out on Gordon Hayward (who tied a career-high with 39 points) in the last moments, hurt their efforts to snatch a win over a Boston team that came into the game with a 4-1 record.
On the bright side, those sort of games can be a step toward the winning path for a young team, and hopefully Cleveland can find a way to carry momentum into Friday on the road at the Washington Wizards, who are also 2-5 to start 2019-20.
It was awesome to see Collin Sexton make some big plays down the stretch, and twice from pestering Boston star Kemba Walker on the defensive end, of which once resulted in a double-dribble call and another resulting in a jump ball.
So what are a few things to look out for in this meeting with the Wiz, which will be aired nationally on ESPN, you ask?
We’ll get into that now.