Cavs: One stud and one dud from loss to Hornets on Friday
By Corey Casey
For the second game the Cleveland Cavaliers showed a lot of promise and they were able to stay competitive. The team may not be satisfied with moral victories, but the NBA did the Cavs no favors scheduling them at the Memphis Grizzlies and versus the Charlotte Hornets for their first two games of the 2021-22 season. Even with that they had a chance to win against a very good Memphis team on the road and a very good up-and-coming Hornets team.
The Cavaliers struggled defensively stopping the Hornets and especially struggled to prevent them from being to drive while getting deep into the paint, but one of the promising things about the Cavs is they were also able to move the ball consistenly through three quarters, were finding ways to score and were efficient in doing it.
It’s early, but outside of drafting Evan Mobley the Wine and Gold’s next biggest addition was solidifiying the backup point guard spot in the offseason, with the trade addition of veteran Ricky Rubio.
Anybody that watched the Cavs last year would notice all too often when Darius Garland wasn’t playing or came out for rest, Cleveland just didn’t have anybody that was a consistent playmaker/facilitator and the team suffered because of that. Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman made it a priority to address the backup point guard position with Rubio. Rubio was acquired for situations like this in which Garland couldn’t go for Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and company.
Again for the Cavs the offense was flowing well through three quarters, and they were moving the ball very well and keeping pace with the Hornets; unfortunately they weren’t able to keep that momentum up in the fourth, as the Hornets were able to pull away.
Rubio and the team’s turnovers in the early stages of the fourth quarter ultimately did them in, too, however, the club did still have plenty of good stretches.
With that said, here, we’ll take a closer look at a stud and dud from the Cavs Friday night loss versus Charlotte.
First, we’ll take a look at the stud.