On Thursday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers welcomed in the Golden State Warriors but had the odds stacked against them, especially with the plethora of injuries the Wine and Gold are currently dealing with as a team.
For three quarters, the Cavaliers held their ground against the surging Warriors, even going up by as many as 13 points. But an unbelievable 36-8 final quarter turned a close game into a Warriors blowout win, due in large part to a 40-point performance from former MVP Stephen Curry, who always seems to enjoy playing in Cleveland. He had 20 points in the closing period, and for the game, went 15-of-27 overall, and 9-of-16 from three-point range.
While the final 12 minutes were ones to forget, the Cavaliers were remarkable even in this game, considering they were without Collin Sexton, Jarrett Allen, Lauri Markkanen, Evan Mobley, Cedi Osman, and Lamar Stevens. This was on the second night of a back-to-back, too, to add to that.
There were a few standouts donning the Mixtape City Wine and Gold uniforms in this game, though, such as Darius Garland, who showed out in this game as he scored a team-high 25 points and also dished out five assists. In his new role off the bench, Kevin Love added 17 points and seven rebounds as well. Even veteran Ed Davis, who started again with Allen out for the third straight outing (illness), stepped up with seven points and 14 rebounds in the contest.
However, there is one guy who truly deserves to be recognized for his performance, as the clear stud perfomer for Cleveland from this one.
Cavs stud: Dean Wade
Dean Wade has carved out a solid role on this Cavaliers squad and has defended competently, and he plays the role of a stretch big man well at times. Due to the aforementioned injuries, Wade was relied upon heavily tonight and came up with big moments on both ends of the floor.
Wade, who averaged 19.2 minutes per game last season, played 40 minutes in this contest. Darius Garland led all Cleveland scorers in the first half with 18 points, but behind him was Wade with 10 points (2-of-3 from three-point range) and chipped in on the glass, and even had a couple of assists.
Where Wade truly made an impact was in the third quarter. The third-year player from Kansas State chipped in seven points but also impacted the offensive glass and even tipped in a missed free throw at the buzzer to put Cleveland up 13 points.
While the final 12 minutes weren’t the most pleasing display of basketball, it was quite encouraging to see this type of performance from Wade. His final line was 17 points (3-of-6 from beyond the arc) and nine rebounds, including five offensive boards.
Once the Cavaliers are back to full strength, Wade’s minutes will take a dip, but displays such as tonight have to give the coaching staff confidence that they can turn to Wade when they are in a bind.
While Wade’s play stood out positively, there was one particular player whose play made little-to-no impact in the game last night.
Cavs dud: Dylan Windler
Since being drafted in the first round by the Cavaliers in 2019, there has always been a lot of upside and potential spoken about Dylan Windler. However, primarily due to injury, Windler has yet to be on the floor consistently.
Earlier this month, Windler scored 13 points against the Portland Trail Blazers, including hitting a trio of three-point shots. But, in the eight games since, Windler scored just 23 points and has not registered a point in the previous two games despite playing 30 minutes combined.
Especially with the Cavaliers played short-handed, players like Windler, who is on this team to score the basketball, need to step up. Probably the best way to describe Windler’s play in this most recent game is timid.
In 18 minutes of play, Windler took a total of one shot and had triple the amount of turnovers to register a minus-13 plus-minus for the evening.
To put it simply, if Windler is to have a consistent role on this team, he needs to step up in moments like these. It is excellent when he has one or two good shooting games in a row, but he needs to show consistency for him to be that true pure shooter.
Overall, it is hard to fault the Cavaliers for this game. Even with them blowing a double-digit fourth-quarter lead, they ran out of juice with an undermanned roster playing against the hottest team in the NBA.
Unfortunately, the Cavs schedule does not get any easier as they host the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns in their next two games.
But the remaining Cavaliers roster will have to step up and hold down the fort until the team can get back to full strength.