After a tough loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, while very shorthanded I might add, I expected the Cleveland Cavaliers to move on from the loss and get back to their winning ways last night versus the Washington Wizards. However, I could not have been more wrong.
Kyle Kuzma and Bradley Beal combined for 54 points on 24-of-40 shooting to lead the Wizards to a 110-93 victory over the Cavaliers, who couldn’t keep pace nearly enough. Washington led by seven at the half, and coasted to a victory in the second half. The loss came only a couple of hours after it was announced that veteran point guard Ricky Rubio was lost for the season with a torn ACL.
As a side note, it was recently reported that the Cavaliers acquired veteran reserve point guard Rajon Rondo via trade from the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, which can help, to some degree; Rondo is just not the player Rubio is at this point in his career.
Anyway, circling back to the Wizards game, the Cavs were led by veteran Kevin Love, who had 24 points on the night. He was 7-of-15 from the field and shot 40 percent from beyond the arc. Evan Mobley also looked solid in his second game back from the NBA’s Health and Safety Protocols. He put up 21 points on 10-of-20 shooting, and swatted away two shots.
However, it was an off night for most Cavaliers, so finding a dud won’t be the problem for this article.