When the Cleveland Cavaliers started running away from the New Orleans Pelicans in the first quarter of their game Tuesday night down in New Orleans I had thoughts like you, that this would be another “W” in the win column and have these hot-start Cavs establishing themselves as a powerhouse in the NBA this season.
The Cavs were without their star point guard Darius Garland, who just went on the Covid list, but the team got back their rookie center Evan Mobley and other guard Isaac Okoro from that same Covid list. It seemed like a good trade-off in the immediate future. With the team jumping out to a 28-7 first-quarter lead all looked good.
The Pelicans, though, wouldn’t bow down to the upstart Cavs and worked their way back all the way from 20 points down. By the end of the game, they had stunned Cleveland and notched the 108-104 win. The Pelicans haven’t lost a home game to the Cavs in 11 years and that streak will now continue.
The Cavs gave up a huge lead and lost to the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Who stood out in either direction for Cleveland?
The absence of Garland in this game ultimately was the big difference in why these young Cavaliers couldn’t run away from the Pelicans. With the Cavs point guard being gone for these next several games, things could get more difficult. To add to this problem, the team’s backup point guard Ricky Rubio suffered a knee injury very late in the game and that now has the Cavs trying to figure out how they will move forward without a legitimate point guard.
In the game last night, the Cavs built a 39-20 first-quarter lead. It looked like so many other games this season for the team. They’ve been storming out to these big leads and then coasting the remainders of games. The Pelicans actually outscored the Cavs in each of the next three quarters which is a rare thing for the Cavs’ second-best defense in the NBA to allow.
By halftime, the lead was down to 58-48, and the Cavs; lead dwindled to seven points by the start of the fourth quarter. However, the team seemed to steady the ship as they ran their lead back out to 12 points early in the last quarter. It was 95-83 at the eight-minute mark. By the 3:18 mark, the Pelicans took their first lead of the game and they held onto that lead for the win.
Several players played big for the Cavs and there were a few uncharacteristically that came up short and played poorly. Let’s dig a little deeper and discuss these players.