Other than MAC football during the week, there’s not a lot to look forward to Monday-Friday in the sporting world. With that being said, Cleveland Cavaliers fans were treated to an incredible game last night versus the Wizards. Before the game the Wizards entered the arena with a 7-3 record, while the Cavs were a half-game behind them with a record of 7-4. Even though the outcome of the game was not the one Cavs fans hoped for, it was an incredible game.
In the first quarter the teams were pretty much dead even as the Wizards took a two-point lead into the second quarter. However, the Cavs closed out the first half strong, with good performances from sensational rookie Evan Mobley, Ricky Rubio, and Darius Garland. DG hit a three-pointer with just under 40 seconds left in the half, and the final scoring of the half was two free throws from Rubio to give the Cavs a 49-44 lead heading into half-time.
The Wizards came out strong to start the second half, getting early buckets from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Daniel Gafford. With just over seven minutes to go in the third quarter, Mobley hit a jumper to give the Cavs their largest lead of the night, 59-49. Both teams worked extremely hard in the defensive half of the court, and the third quarter ended with the Cavs on top, 74-68.
The final quarter was not a good one for the Cavaliers. After leading by six to start the fourth quarter, there was a flurry of baskets made by Jarrett Allen, Corey Kispert, and Darius Garland, and the Cavs’ lead bloomed to ten again. The Wizards were not to be denied, however, as they mounted a fourth-quarter comeback. Kyle Kuzma hit a three-pointer in the corner to give the Wizards a one-point lead with eleven seconds remaining. On the Cavs’ next possession, Darius Garland missed a three-pointer, and that pretty much closed the book on this big early-season game.
The Cavs lost a painfully close game to the Wizards on Wednesday night. Who was the stud and what was the dud from the contest?
Overall it was a good showing from the Cavs, who were, and will be without their leading scorer Collin Sexton for at least a month. With that being said, there were a couple of guys who shined last night, while others did not fare so well in the bright lights. Let’s check out the stud and the dud from last night’s loss to the Wizards.
The Stud: Darius Garland
Even though Darius Garland missed an open three that would have given the Cavs the lead with seconds remaining, I loved what I saw from Garland last night. He is such a smooth and calm player that he makes it look easy at times. Last night he finished the game with 19 points and four assists while shooting 50% from the field. He did have four turnovers as well, and some of those will need to be eliminated from his game for him to take the next step. On the defensive end of the court, he didn’t look like a liability all game, which is a major improvement.
Yes, I know some of you will read this and question this pick because Garland shot 8-16 from the field, but only 3-10 from three. However, I’m more than fine with letting Garland have more freedom on offense. For better or worse, the Cavs will be without their leading scorer from the past two seasons, for at least a month. In his absence, someone will have to do a lot of the scoring.
Mobley has looked sensational thus far, but you don’t want to put that kind of pressure on a rookie. I like Garland to carry the load, even if his shooting struggles continue. He did shoot 30% from three last night, but getting up 10 attempts is hard to do and exactly what we want to see from him. The only way to improve your craft is to keep practicing. In the absence of Sexton, I would love to see DG be more aggressive, and this was a step in the right direction.
Honestly, everything sucks after a close loss like that. You pretty much turn the game off right as it ends, and just continually think about the multiple ways the Cavs could have won that game. However, this is a super young squad, without their leading scorer, so some mistakes are accepted. Plus, the good news is that if the Cavs are keeping up with some of the better teams in the East without Sexton, I can’t imagine how good they would look with Sexton and Garland in the backcourt once again.
The Dud: Situational Awareness
The last Wizards possession was incredibly hard to watch, considering you could have predicted how the end of the game played out. While J.B. Bickerstaff is partly to blame, there’s no valid reason why Kyle Kuzma was left open in the corner for a three with just over ten seconds left. The Cavs were up by two, so you have to run shooters off the line. On top of that, Kuzma had shown all game that he was the only one on the Wizards that was hitting his shots, especially from deep.
Like I said, a lot of this blame does indeed fall on Bickerstaff for not having his guys prepared for that last possession, However, I would argue that these guys have been playing basketball since they could walk, so there’s really no valid excuse as to why the only Wizards player with a pulse from deep was wide open with ten seconds to go.
That comes down to coaching and knowing your surroundings. Whoever was guarding Kuzma needed to stay near him at all costs, because he had shown he was the only one who was going to beat you last night. So the defense on the last play was a bit shocking to say the least. I have a feeling the Cavs will be in a lot more close games like this, so I hope they learned their lesson and don’t make that mistake again.
Overall, it was a very exciting early-season NBA game. Kuzma was knocking down threes from everywhere on the court, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley were as good as ever protecting the rim. Darius Garland is starting to show signs that he might be the leader on this team, and in the future, the star player. Either way, let’s hope the Cavs learned from last night, and can take that knowledge into the next game and pull out another win.