The Cleveland Cavaliers are having their best season in five years. Let’s lead with that fact. They have already won as many games (22) as they did all of last season, and even with their recent slump of losses they boast the best net rating in the Eastern Conference.
That is all true, but Sunday night the Cavs looked like a team that couldn’t compete with a true title contender in the Golden State Warriors. In a night that was all about the return of Klay Thompson, the Cavs couldn’t muster a return to the blueprint that took them to four-straight NBA Finals against the Warriors.
In the Klay Thompson return game, the Cavs lost to the Warriors in a low-scoring affair. What worked and what let this team down?
The final score was 96-82, an incredibly low-scoring affair where neither team could hit from outside (29.2 percent from 3 for Cleveland, 23.8 for Golden State). Thompson scored 17 points in his return but needed 18 shots to get there. It was a slugfest, and the Warriors came out on top.
In telling the store of this game, it doesn’t make sense to include the offense. The Cavs had a number of brutal performances, with Darius Garland shooting 3-for-12 (he was a game-worst -22), or Kevin Love and Cedi Osman combining to go 2-for-13 off the bench, including 0-for-6 from deep.
Lamar Stevens had his best game of the season as he led the team (yes, you read that right: Lamar Stevens led the team in scoring) with 17 points on 8-for-11 from the field. Rajon Rondo went 3-for-3 from deep and scored 15 points. Yet when the team musters just 82 points it doesn’t seem right to praise any scorers.
Instead, we’re going to focus on the other end of the court, which is where this game was decided. What stood out for better or for worse from the defensive side of the court?