The Cleveland Cavaliers have been one of the biggest surprises in the NBA this season, undoubtedly. Despite the injuries they’ve had, and the schedule to this point, Cleveland has held tough in the thick of things in the Eastern Conference, in which they’re in the fourth seed at 32-21.
Objectively though, them being without recently-named All-Star lead guard Darius Garland of late because of back soreness has really hurt the club; he’s missed Cleveland’s last three games, and they’ve lost two of three. Even with Garland, still, they had issues following a strong start, and then the club had a rough fourth quarter at the Detroit Pistons on Sunday, which was such a bad 115-105 loss.
Cleveland narrowly beat the New Orleans Pelicans in the second half of a back-to-back on Monday, but that one was a struggle, to say the least, and then the Cavaliers lost to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday by double digits.
Following that up, heading into it, the Cavs had another game on the slate without their young star point guard in Garland, and I expected the Cavs to potentially lose once again. This time they were at the Charlotte Hornets and their high-octane, uptempo offense.
It is evident that the club badly misses Garland when he’s not been able to go, and the back soreness is somewhat concerning, frankly, and Cleveland not having Lauri Markkanen back yet because of an ankle sprain hasn’t helped in recent contests. He is reportedly progressing, on a positive note.
But either way, it’s understandable why the Cavaliers are reportedly seeking backcourt/wing help via trade, with their injuries.
Anyhow, in regards to this last Charlotte game, even with the rough stretches for Cleveland at times and a tough first quarter, the Cavs rebounded after that 31-22 first quarter in favor of the Hornets, and largely controlled things for extended stretches from there. That played into them getting the job done narrowly.
The Wine and Gold had several notable contributors here, and quality ball movement and attention to detail defensively in the second and third quarter, on the other end, paid off. Among the key contributors were Brandon Goodwin, who had 12 points and a career-best nine assists, and I thought was uber-active as a rotator defensively; he had four steals, too.
He had five turnovers, sure, and a bad miss near the end of regulation, but he gave the team a much-needed spark in the second quarter, and they fed off that. In his play for Cleveland, the guy continues to impress as a two-way contributor, and even more so after he previously was dealing with complications involved with a minor respiratory condition that ended his past season with the Atlanta Hawks.
As far as others, Kevin Love was humongous off the bench, as he had 25 points, and connected on 6-of-14 from three. His nine rebounds were very meaningful, too, and it was not shocking that he was a Cavs game-high plus-12.
Additionally, Isaac Okoro’s defense I thought made a difference in making LaMelo Ball work for everything, and his secondary playmaking was solid. And Dean Wade’s defensive positioning and eight points gave the team a lift.
Okay, so from here, we’ll hit on the Cavs stud and dud from this gutsy win at the Hornets then.
We’ll start with the top performer for Cleveland first.
Cavs stud: Jarrett Allen
This go-round, I have to highlight Jarrett Allen as an individual standout here, as he had a double-double in the first half, and ended up with a monster performance.
The Fro was on a mission after being a notable All-Star snub (we’ll see if he is an injury replacement), and Allen ended up with an overall statline of a career-best 29 points and season-high 22 rebounds. He was outstanding from the jump, as he had 13 points in the first quarter, and even after banging knee-to-knee with Gordon Hayward in the second quarter, Allen eventually returned, and picked up right where he left off.
As we noted, he eventually ended up with 29 points, which led the Cavaliers. He was on-point off-ball as a cutter and in getting position for seals, leading to in-rhythm finishes with touch, and his authority inside gave the Cavaliers momentum throughout the contest.
The intensity Allen brought for extended stretches was huge for this Cavs team, that was again without Garland and Markkanen, and whether or not Allen does end up being an All-Star replacement, this game was very encouraging for what’s to come. Even after he banged knees with Hayward, he was playing with a great sense of urgency, and threw down two jams on Mason Plumlee, too.
I also thought Allen’s defensive activity in contesting shots inside, forcing tough shots from drivers when needed, and his defensive rebounding was crucial. He was impactful in that way throughout the game as well, as he has been so often this year.
Cavs dud: Defensive rebounding
In a game where there a share of runs back-and-forth, the dud to me for Cleveland over the course of it was defensive rebounding.
Allen himself I have to give his deal of credit, as he grabbed the lion’s share of those for the Wine and Gold, with an even split of 11 of his 22 boards on the defensive glass. Love chipped in, too, for what it’s worth.
However, the group themselves needed to help him more there, clearly, as Charlotte had 17 offensive boards, and while Mason Plumlee had a few on Allen himself, I thought there were a number of other instances where others weren’t in great position to secure those.
It wasn’t necessarily all on them, but there were a few sequences where Evan Mobley and Dean Wade weren’t in solid position to help on the defensive glass nearly how they’re capable, and credit to the Hornets for generating their share of tip-outs. A number of situations led to Charlotte getting open perimeter looks, or ball-swings leading to cutting opportunities for the likes of Terry Rozier, Kelly Oubre Jr., Miles Bridges and others.
That’s part of the reason why, along with stagnant play at the other end for some stretches, Charlotte had a 34-14 run in the fourth quarter at one point, and took a three-point lead with 46.2 seconds left.
This is an issue that the Cavs, even when relatively healthy, have had as a lingering problem, and it’s hurt their defense, often after quality initial efforts.
Even still, though, whether or not Cleveland coughed up a 17-point lead in the fourth, regardless of a ridiculous bench technical sequence resulting in a gifted Charlotte four-point play late after a dead whistle scenario, the Cavs pulled it out. The league/officials did express how that was a miscommunication, too, as a side note. Oh well.
And Kevin Love’s two clutch free throws with 1.2 seconds left after an offensive rebound shot attempt got the job done 102-101, and this was a quality win for Cleveland, who hopes to get back on track. What a gutsy effort from the group, who found a way here, and what a career game from Allen.
That was an All-Star performance at that from the Fro.