The Cleveland Cavaliers play the Atlanta Hawks tonight and then get a well-deserved break as the All-Star Weekend happens this year in Cleveland at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. For several Cavaliers, though, the break won’t be as long because some of the players are involved in playing in a few of the various events. That includes Darius Garland, who was selected as a reserve for the Eastern Conference squad, and now Jarrett Allen, who was just announced Monday as being a replacement for an injured James Harden of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Wine and Gold has had a complete turnaround this season standing in third place in the conference with a 35-22 record. They lost their last game to the 76ers on Saturday after having pulled off a string of wins previously.
They are one of the good stories in the NBA and are definitely trending in the right direction. There are many questions, especially regarding the future of this magical season. Speculation and hot takes are a new thing for Cavs fans to get used to after so many seasons of mediocrity.
With the recent acquisition of Caris LeVert from the Indiana Pacers, the Cavs are building more blocks to get closer to getting to the playoffs, a place they haven’t seen in four seasons and make a run at a championship.
Before the loss to Philadelphia over the weekend, fans of the Cavs were starting to speculate and dream of championships as soon as today, but with the loss came some reminders of how difficult the road to that can be.
The 76ers and their star player and one of the best in the game, Joel Embiid, reminded many of the big difference between him and the Cavaliers big men, like rookie Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. It’s not that either is that far off from playing like Embiid but to be a legitimate threat to the rest of the league they will have to get better, stronger, and more skilled as time goes on.
With that said, the team is still one of the best in the league and aren’t going anywhere with the new sense of confidence that the team has built. Let’s keep dribbling down the court and see what other big questions there are this week for the Cavs as they head into the All-Star break soon.
#1: Are these bad first quarters by Cleveland a new trend?
It sure seems that way after the Cavaliers have played several games where they haven’t had a lead early. In fact, this month of February, Cleveland hasn’t led in any of their six games after the first quarter. Yet, they have a 4-2 record. Even with that success with the final outcome, it’s definitely a trend that will not be a good one to keep going.
The last two games especially have been brutal. The team gave up 47 points to the Pacers in quarter number one on Friday and then in the loss to the 76ers they gave up 36 points.
The Cavs can’t expect to keep giving up lots of points and expect to keep making these outrageous comebacks. That was pretty evident in the Philadelphia loss, especially with a veteran like Kevin Love, who has been making it a regular habit to start knocking down three-pointers, after coming off the bench to help his team stay in games. Against Philly, he ended up with only two points and went 0-for-4 from the floor.
Granted it was one of the few times that Love hasn’t delivered, but it showed just how important a player of Love’s stature is on a very young team still learning how to win. Without the 14 points and 7.3 rebounds a game average, then the Cavs have trouble on their hands.
It’s important the team gets back to winning that opening quarter like they were doing consistently in the month of December. That month the team was regularly the team jumping out to the big lead.
Now with LeVert on the team, and players like Lauri Markkanen, whose been a starter for the team, out at the moment with an injury, it’s been taking much of the quarter for the players on the floor to get into any type of rhythm and flow of the game. I’d suspect the game tonight in Atlanta will be a better one for the team and the team will certainly put more pressure on themselves to get off to a more aggressive start. Let’s hope that has a positive outcome for the Wine and Gold.
#2: Should LeVert be a regular starter?
Yes, in both the short term and long term. In the game against the 76ers, LeVert didn’t get the start. Neither did he in the game against his old team in the Pacers. However, he has been a regular starter in his career and was starting with the Pacers.
In the opening game for LeVert against his old team, he managed to close out the contest for the Cavaliers with three huge buckets. It was a great moment for him and the Cavs and showed just how clutch and experienced LeVert can be.
It was a bit of a surprise the next game that LeVert started the game on the bench. Dean Wade and Isaac Okoro are the two current starters, that I thought LeVert would have a chance to start in place of. When Cleveland got off to the slow start against Philly, LeVert went in for Wade in a very early substitution. I don’t understand why the Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff wouldn’t have just started LeVert in the first place.
Now the question moving forward is who LeVert should replace in the starting rotation? Should it be Okoro or Wade? That’s a difficult question, because I believe with both players, if you insert LeVert in their place, the team will be a bit worse defensively. However, they’ll gain a better offensive threat and with the rash of slow starts, it would be good to give him a chance at starting.
Whatever the team decides, it’s more important to give LeVert the minutes he needs to get a better feel for the game. One can see what a valuable pickup he was for the team in how he was so clutch in that win on Friday against Indiana.
#3: Will this team keep winning?
Absolutely the answer is yes. With the All-Star break almost here, the team will get a nice break to recharge and be ready for the final stretch of games.
After the All-Star Game, the Cavs play four of their next six games at home. After a three-game away trip to Indiana, and games at the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls, the team has another big stretch of games at home. They play five games in a row at home and eight of the next ten at home. Cleveland hopefully will benefit from all the home cooking.
But the more of the teams they play after the break have winning records right now. By my calculations, the team plays 15 games against teams with winning records and only nine games against teams with a losing record, currently. That home cooking better be really good.
So, while I expect the team to keep winning, they’ll have to expect the best from other teams now trying to catch the Cavs in the chase to the playoffs. Cleveland has already exceeded all expectations this year, so while the pressures will continue to mount, I don’t think the team will fall flat on their faces as recent history has seen.
Being young has its good and bad moments. This Cleveland team is very young, and we’ve seen the good and bad come with that. On the positive side of things, this team has learned how to play together and trust one another and play some of the most unselfish basketball in the NBA. Seven players are averaging double figures for the team. That is very rare to find in the league these days.
On the negative side of things, we are seeing the rookie Evan Mobley going through some rookie moments where he’s looked more uneasy or less confident in his game. His numbers have been off a bit offensively, though he still is playing outstanding defense. But all this comes with the youth of the team.
The best part of the consequences of this season is that the Cavs have finally learned how to win games again and LeBron James is nowhere to be seen on that front. It’s a nice feeling if you are a fan of the Wine and Gold.
With that, enjoy the festivities of All-Star Weekend and the NBA giving shoutouts to the great city of Cleveland!