Heading into Sunday night’s contest against the Toronto Raptors at home, the Cleveland Cavaliers had lost four of their five games post-All-Star break and six of seven games dating back to before then. The Cavaliers have hit a road bump of late, and they need to turn things around with them in a pivotal portion of their season, as teams will be jockeying for postseason position the rest of the way.
Injuries to the backcourt have not helped the Wine and Gold’s cause, though. Darius Garland had been in there the past two games for Cleveland, but he missed the first three post-All-Star games because of lower back soreness, which is an ailment he and the team will have to manage from here; hopefully he can be active in most games.
From there, Caris LeVert has missed all of Cleveland’s six post-All-Star break contests due to a foot sprain, and Rajon Rondo, with playmaking depth in mind, has missed Cleveland’s past five outings with a big toe sprain. Both could seemingly be back for the Cavs soon, on the plus side, but we’ll have to see how long things will be until both can get in-rhythm.
As far as how the Cavaliers looked in this last game against Toronto, while there were still some rough moments, the Wine and Gold did play much better defense than they have of late, and they had a few timely runs that led to a much-needed victory.
The Raptors are a team that’s just getting started too, similarly to the Cavs, and Toronto also have its share of good young players. In this contest, Toronto was without Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby, which clearly handicapped them to some degree offensively, but they’re still a quality team, and Scottie Barnes, Pascal Siakam and their defensive pressure allowed them to hang around for most of the contest.
Fortunately for the Cavaliers, they hit some key shots when they needed them, and contributions from Darius Garland (17 points and 10 assists), and Cedi Osman and Kevin Love were significant throughout. Osman, who has been playing very well in recent weeks, had 17 points, three assists and two steals in his minutes off the bench, and Love had 15 points and nine rebounds.
One Cav, in particular, was huge in this one, anyhow, and we’ll get into that more here. And with Jarrett Allen unfortunately being out early because of a quad contusion, that was much-needed. To make matters worse, Allen reportedly also fractured his finger and will be sidelined indefinitely.
Regarding Sunday’s game, we’ll highlight the standout performer from that one for the Cavs, but also do the same for Cleveland’s dud.
We’ll start with the Cavaliers stud against the Raps.
The Cavs stud from Sunday’s W against the Raps: Evan Mobley
The stud for the Wine and Gold on Sunday night in what was a flexed game for both teams on ESPN was Evan Mobley.
Mobley has been amid a tough stretch on the offensive end, objectively, dating back to before the All-Star break, as he had scored in single digits in 6 of his last 13 games coming into Sunday’s, which was not something we’ve been accustomed to compared to most of the rest of the season thus far.
In this Toronto game, though, regardless of circumstances, he was big-time, as he had 20 points on 9-of-15 (60.0 percent) shooting from the field, to go with tying his season-best with 17 rebounds. Mobley was aggressive here in getting to his spots in the lane, got to runners, got a few plays to go in early offense, and he was big on the offensive glass, with seven boards on that end.
He was a menace defensively as well, with three blocks, and although he uncharacteristically did have five fouls, Cleveland benefited from his strong play on that end of the floor, and he made several meaningful contests in crucial stretches.
Along with the other areas we touched on, Mobley did have four turnovers, but his four assists made a difference as well, and there were other instances that could’ve been for him. I’d expect to see Mobley’s playmaking continue to become more of a factor in coming years, too, based on what we’ve often seen this season.
The Cavs dud from Sunday’s W against the Raps: Isaac Okoro
I’ll never discount what Isaac Okoro does for Cleveland on the perimeter and/or often at the point-of-attack on the defensive end. He’s done his part on that end of the floor at a high level for the vast majority of the season, and his defensive workload is among the toughest on the Cavaliers game-to-game, and he’s defended a variety of threats throughout the season.
However, in this last game against the Raptors, while he’s not generally going to be a crucial offensive contributor for the Cavs, Okoro being way off here was tough to see. He’s been more competent on catch-and-shoots from the corners this season, but those didn’t go this go-round either, and he wasn’t nearly as impactful on defense in this game on Sunday.
Overall, Okoro had only two points on 1-of-7 shooting, and with him being ineffective, he was only in for 22 minutes versus Toronto in this last Cavs contest. He was 0-for-3 from three-point range, and was unfortunately not able to get to the free throw line, which is generally an area of strength for him offensively, and he’s hit 77.4 percent from there this season.
I’m not going to read too much into this one from Okoro, honestly, and his defense will be the point of emphasis anyway, but he was just especially off from the field on Sunday. Hopefully, he can provide a bit more in coming games, perhaps in early offense in the open floor.
Regardless, with Okoro’s defensive abilities, it’s apparent that with Jarrett Allen sidelined, Okoro, Evan Mobley and players such as Dean Wade will be all the more important in coming contests.
Let’s hope the Cavs can build on this win on Sunday, anyhow, and that LeVert and Rondo can get back soon.