Cavs: One stud and one dud from latest loss to the Brooklyn Nets

Maybe that home cooking the Cleveland Cavaliers were hoping for wasn’t as filling and delicious as they had hoped when they started this homestand? After the team had started the season mostly on the road, playing eight of their first 11 games, one would have thought that taking that trip away from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse would make these Cavs players more energized and hungry to do well in front of the home ground.

Instead, they’ve now lost four games in row and are 4-5 on their home floor this season and 9-9 overall. They’re latest loss was to the high-flying Brooklyn Nets, 117-112. The Cavs have been missing several key players due to injuries, including their guard Collin Sexton, who is out for the rest of the season, and their big man Evan Mobley. And while many, including myself, want to give this young Cavaliers team a free pass for their efforts, the team is still stacking up losses.

Is this team better than a year ago? Certainly, if are watching this team on a nightly basis, they are a tough, hard-working team. Many will say they are fun to watch. The games they are playing have for the most part been very competitive right down to the last dribble, but again they are losing. How do you stop the bleeding? Maybe getting this team back on the road would at least force them to be more accountable to their teammates and maybe push this fractured team back together a bit.

While I believe this team is better than recent teams in the past, losing, like winning, can be contagious and at the moment I can’t see a clear path to the team’s success. Obviously, getting Mobley back into the mix will benefit this group immensely. Last night, in the game against the Nets, Jarrett Allen and Lauri Markkanen both made their returns and that gave Cleveland a boost.

One last note, before we dive into the stud and dud of the game. Cavs other guard Darius Garland is getting much deserved praise for his efforts with the absence of his teammate Sexton. And while I see Garland’s benefits to the team and he’s scoring buckets, I’ve also suggested before that what he is doing right now is not necessarily what’s best for this team, especially if they want to win.

Many fans have said, in response to that, the team doesn’t have close to enough players that create their own offense and score. Which I say to them, basketball is a team sport. If a player like Garland doesn’t trust his teammates to knock down shots or create shots than that is an area the team needs to work on.

There is a wealth of talent on this Cavaliers team. Garland wasn’t designed to be a 25-point-a-night player. His real strengths lie in his ability to try and get his teammates involved as he’s the quarterback of the team. With Sexton gone, I sense that either he or the coaches are trying to force the issue too much at the moment.

Garland again made a couple critical mistakes late in the game when possessions matter. In close games, taking care of the ball and executing and not throwing the ball away are critical.

Certainly, Garland wasn’t a dud in this game. He obviously was more of the stud but let’s take a look at a couple players that were a stud and dud.