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Cavs: 3 reasons to tune into game vs. San Antonio on Thursday

By Robbie DiPaola

Cleveland Cavaliers wing Kevin Porter Jr. celebrates after a made basket. (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)
Cleveland Cavaliers wing Kevin Porter Jr. celebrates after a made basket. (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Cleveland Cavaliers wing Kevin Porter Jr. (left) and Cleveland guard Darius Garland. (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Reason #2: Seeing how the youngsters do vs. a Pop-led team

Unlike years past, the San Antonio Spurs’ defense is not playing up to the standard we are used to seeing.

Their defensive rating of 112.4 ranks just 23rd in the league.

To put that into perspective, they finished with a top-five defensive rating for six straight seasons earlier this decade, according to NBA.com.

Since scoring 21 points and hitting five-of-seven from three-point range against the Milwaukee Bucks last month, Garland is averaging just 10.6 points per game and is connecting on only 32.0% of his three-point attempts in five contests, as indicated by NBA.com.

While Sexton is averaging 15.4 points per game this month, he is hitting just 42.5% of his shots, and only 11.1% of his three-point tries.

This young backcourt duo for the Cavaliers can surely improve on those numbers against a defense, that at least by the numbers, is having a down year defensively. A key will be for Sexton and Garland to not force shots, and look for open teammates.

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The fact that Garland’s 2.8 assists per game is the highest average on the Cleveland Cavaliers, as shown by NBA.com, is very concerning.

Porter Jr., though, showed up in a big way on Wednesday against the Houston Rockets, scoring a now-career-high 24 points (including six-of-nine on triples), and nearly brought the Cavaliers all the way back by igniting a huge charge, which at one point featured a 22-0 run.

Porter Jr. is making the most of his opportunity and looks to keep his solid play up against San Antonio.

The Cavaliers are getting open shots, though, as 25.6% of their shots have been with a defender four to six feet away, according to NBA.com’s shot tracking data. Cleveland will need to show continued trust in their players and keep feeding them the ball on open looks; they will eventually start to fall on a more consistent basis.

A third reason to tune into this matchup is to see how the Cavaliers play following their first bit of true adversity this season not too long ago.