In this game for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday at the Milwaukee Bucks it just didn’t appear the Cavs really looked right and they may have not had their legs under them. Coming off a thrilling game against one of the best teams in the Western Conference in the Utah Jazz, which went down to the wire in a 109-108 loss, it just didn’t look like the Cavaliers had it on Monday night.
A couple times it looked like the Bucks were going to pull away, but to the Cavs’ credit they didn’t allow that to happen and were able to muster up enough energy to stay in the game.
It was really a rough one for the two cornerstones of the Cavaliers franchise in Darius Garland and Evan Mobley. They shot a combined 6-of-22 from the field, and had a combined 7 turnovers.
Garland did have 9 assists, but Jrue Holiday, whose known for his defense, made things difficult for Garland all night. Mobley played the most minutes (37) in the Cavs’ narrow loss against the Jazz, while Garland was tied for second at 35. Turning around after a loss like that isn’t easy, particularly when Mobley was guarded often by Giannis Antetokounmpo for stretches, while Garland had to go up against Holiday, and that’s tough.
It just wasn’t the Cavs top two players not having it, as some key reserves, who are reasons the Cavs are a competitive 13-12, just didn’t have it, either. Kevin Love was really good on Monday with 15 points, while shooting 5-of-11 from the field with all of those from 3, but Love was the only reserve that had it going. Ricky Rubio and Cedi Osman have been fantastic coming off the bench for the Cavs and have been key for them at this point in the season; they just didn’t have it Monday, either.
Rubio did have 9 assists , but only shot 2-of-9 from the field and 1-of-4 from three-point range. Osman came into this game shooting 43.0 percent from deep, but had a rare off night from there, by this season’s standards, and shot 1-of-8 from 3.
It says a lot about this team that with all of those things, they were still able to make this game so competitive. A bunch of guys just didn’t have it against the defending champs, but they had a fighting chance in the fourth.
With that said, here we’ll highlight one stud and one dud for the Cavaliers in their 112-104 loss to the Bucks.
Cavs stud: Lauri Markkanen
I wasn’t sure how I felt when Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff announced that Lauri Markkanen would be starting at the 3. I was worried about him on defense, but Markkanen has been really productive offensively and is shooting the ball really well of late.
This is Markkanen’s eighth game back since missing an extensive amount of time from being on the COVID-19 health and safety protocols list, but in his return, he’s scored 20 or more points in 4 of those 8 games. That includes Monday, when he had 20 points, 7 rebounds, and a block, while shooting 4-of-9 from 3 and 7-of-15 from the field.
From a shooting perspective he’s also made 4 or more three’s in 4 of the 8 games since he’s been back. It isn’t just the shooting either, Markkanen has made the most of his opportunities on the post-ups he’s been getting on the block. He doesn’t do it a ton, but he also made some plays off of drives against the Bucks as well.
I didn’t love the idea of Markkanen starting at the 3 at the beginning of the season and Markkanen will never be known as a defensive stopper. However, if he continues to give offensive production, while more importantly shooting the ball the way he’s been shooting, which is exactly what the Cavaliers need, it’s hard to argue against starting him with this version of the roster.
Cavs dud: Evan Mobley
Evan Mobley almost never looks like a rookie, but Monday was one of those rare games. Mobley was able to get to the free throw 6 times, knocking down 5 of them to his credit, but Monday was a struggle for the current Rookie of the Year frontrunner.
Mobley finished with 12 points, albeit on 3-of-10 shooting, and 1-of-4 on deep attempts, to go with 6 rebounds. Meanwhile, it was one of the rare games he didn’t have a block; he did do decently on that end still, though.
Again Mobley looked like he just didn’t have it on Monday night, playing a team-high 37 minutes Sunday, then turning around for a back-to-back and that likely contributed to it, but going up against Giannis certainly doesn’t make it easier.
I felt like Mobley did a really good job defending Giannis, still, in some matchups, and he made the Milwaukee superstar earn and work for everything on the offensive end. The same went for Jarrett Allen; unfortunately, Antetokounmpo was able to hit a few tough threes, which if you’re the Cavaliers, you just have to live with and take.
The good thing about Mobley is even when he’s struggling with his shot in a game like Monday, his all-around game is so darn good and he just impacts the game in so many other areas. I’d fully expect Mobley to bounce back in a big way against the Chicago Bulls back in Cleveland on Wednesday night.