3 takeaways from the Cavaliers’ 106-86 loss to the Knicks
By Corey Casey
Takeaway #1: This was the Cavs’ worst loss of the year
In a rebuilding season that will be filled with losses and not judging everything based on wins, this was the Cavs’ worst loss of the 2019-20 season to this point.
Yes, just about every Cavalier looked the part of coming off a long road trip and having only 10 players dressed (as The Athletic‘s Kelsey Russo noted leading into the game) certainly didn’t help, either.
#Cavs down in numbers tonight, with only 10 guys available to play. Same starting lineup. Brandon Knight, John Henson, Ante Zizic and Kevin Porter Jr. are out.
— Kelsey Russo (@kelseyyrusso) January 20, 2020
Two-way player Matt Mooney is here and available to play. So is Tyler Cook, who signed a 2nd 10-day contract today.
A lot of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ missed shots were short in this one, which is indicative of a team that didn’t have their legs under them. Through three quarters, they only had 66 points and scored 86 in the game, while only shooting 34.0% for the contest, per ESPN.
Kevin Love after the game essentially hit on how this game seemingly was one where the Cavs were just fatigued coming in and might’ve just been sort of set up for a tough outing, and Nance said along the lines of the same thing.
.@KevinLove after the road-weary @Cavs fall to the @nyknicks. #BeTheFight pic.twitter.com/2Hbc0WpC1l
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) January 21, 2020
Larry Nance Jr. knows the team should've played better tonight but believes the outcome was an exception following a long west coast road trip. #BeTheFight pic.twitter.com/LOyoVAEhyI
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) January 21, 2020
That still doesn’t completely excuse the Cavs’ performance, when you consider they were playing a Knicks team that is now 12-32 (the same record as Cavs), the Knicks were playing without their promising rookie wing in Barrett, and the Knicks are a team that came into Monday that again, had lost 8 of their last 9 games.
Yes, the Cavaliers were coming off a long road trip and were short handed, but the Cavs just didn’t bring any energy, looked disinterested and sloppy all game from start to finish, until ultimately the Knicks pulled away after half time.
At the very least the Knicks are a team that, especially at home, the Cavaliers should be competitive with and not get blown out by, as I’m sure head coach John Beilein and the coaching staff would have thought as well.
Next. Three takeaways from Cavs' six-game road trip. dark
These are the kind of losses that are inexcusable and probably shouldn’t happen, at least not by 20 to another team at the early stages of a long rebuild and without a key starter. On the bright side, the Cavs’ 2020 NBA Draft lottery odds improved a bit, as Fear The Sword’s David Zavac noted.