Sometimes throughout the stretch of a long NBA season, there are some games that are just tough to watch. Whether because shots aren’t falling or from a lack of effort, that was the case last night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. The Cavs were lucky to pull out a 95-93 win over the New York Knicks, giving the Cavs a 2-0 series advantage this season.
Overall it was a sloppy game with a lid on the rim at both ends. The Cavaliers only shot 42% from the field last night. On the other hand, the Knicks were even worse, converting on only 41% of their field goal attempts.
Sometimes you win ugly, and the Cavs pulled out a sloppy win over the Knicks on Monday night. Who stood out for good and ill in the victory?
This game had a total of 32 turnovers, which is crazy high for two above-average teams. R.J. Barrett was the leading scorer for New York, totaling 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field. Julius Randle also kicked in 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the visitors.
The Cavs on the other hand were very impressive in their win. Both teams were cold from deep, converting on only 31% from three. Kevin Love led all scorers for the Cavs by pitching in 20 points off the bench to go with 11 rebounds. Rookie Evan Mobley was efficient once again, converting on 50% of his field-goal attempts, finishing with 15 points. The young man is improving offensively every night so far this season.
After a big yet ugly win like last night, let’s check out who I thought was the stud and the dud of the victory over the Knicks.
1 Stud from Cavs win over Knicks: Evan Mobley
Mobley didn’t have the eye-popping numbers we have grown accustomed to, but after last night’s game, I think it’s a good idea to give the rookie a nice pat on the back. Over the past couple of weeks, Mobley has become much more impressive, and his offensive game is evolving. As I said earlier, he was 6-12 from the field last night, while also grabbing 12 rebounds, and even dishing out five assists.
He has become more and more confident in his offensive play over the past couple of weeks, and that should be noticed. With Sexton out this is the perfect time for Mobley to look to improve his offensive arsenal. Other than Darius Garland, without Collin Sexton on the floor, the Cavs’ offense can be just plain bad at times. However, Mobley has adapted to this style of play and is even playing more efficiently than at the beginning of the season.
You can also tell he’s learning more and more about the offense every day, which is a credit to his five assists last night. Often times we ignore the offensive game from Mobley because he’s been so good on defense. He’s proved time and time again the bright lights don’t faze him, which is why he continues to be a centerpiece on this good young team.
1 Dud from Cavs win over Knicks: Free-Throw Shooting
I could go on and on about this subject, considering we saw how detrimental it was to multiple teams in the playoffs last year, proving the point that once again, shooting is the most important skill in basketball. However, the Cavs have shot the ball pretty well this season, which has been a bit of a surprise to me at least. Even so, they are still well below average from the foul line. Some may consider me a “hardo” or other things like that, but it drives me absolutely bonkers when NBA players cannot convert on their free throws.
Last night the Cavs were an abysmal 60% from the line, which many might say isn’t bad. However, in my opinion, if you play in the NBA, you should be converting on at least 75% of your free throws, but preferably higher. Teams who don’t shoot the ball well from the charity stripe, end up losing a lot of games they shouldn’t because of their inability to make clutch free throws.
As I said, I could go on and on about this, but the bottom line is, it needs to be fixed. The Cavs have shocked a lot of people thus far into the season, it would be a shame if free throw shooting was the reason for their downfall. When the pressure is on, making free throws is the hardest thing for a lot of players to do. I think they’ll steadily raise their free throw percentage, and by the end of the year, it will be over 70% percent.
Well, there you have it, a stud and a dud from an ugly game versus the Knicks last night. R.J. Barrett seems to be coming into his own, so the Knicks should be a contender for the foreseeable future. The Cavs should be considered a contender as well.