It wasn’t pretty, but at this point in the season, a win is all that matters. With less than 10 games separating the Eastern Conference’s top seed, and the eighth, the Cleveland Cavaliers picked up a huge win over the visiting LA Clippers on Monday night, 120-111.
With the score knotted at 106 at the end of the fourth quarter, the Cavs played in, and won, their first overtime game of the season. Led by Darius Garland, Cleveland outscored the Clippers 14-5 in the overtime session to get the win. Rookie of the Year favorite Evan Mobley had a career-high 30 points on 13-of-22 shooting from the field, and also had six rebounds and two blocks. With All-Star center Jarrett Allen out indefinitely with a fractured finger, Mobley has been tasked with playing the center role the last couple of games, which is a natural fit for him, anyhow.
Outside of Mobley, Cleveland’s All-Star point guard in Garland also had a very good night, scoring 24 points, but even more importantly, dishing out 13 assists. Garland has reached double-digit assists in four of the Cavs last five outings. Isaac Okoro continued to show signs that he’s turning into a nice two-way player, too.
He scored 20 points Monday night, however, 11 of those points came from the free throw line. The wing out of Auburn got to the line 13 times tonight, which means he’s attacking the basket more frequently, and getting good results when he does so. Finally, after a nine-game absence due to injury, Caris LeVert played his first minutes since the All-Star break for Cleveland. He was solid as always, scoring 11 points on 50% shooting from the field. LeVert was on a minutes-restriction to ease him back into game-shape.
Overall it was a quality win for the Cavaliers, and they needed it considering how tightly contested the Eastern Conference has become. Now, the Clippers were admittedly shorthanded here, still without Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, and Reggie Jackson was not in action here.
With that being said, it was good to see this young Cavalier team go out and dominate their first overtime game of the year. They have four games left of their home stand upcoming, and to be competing for a playoff spot, one would assume they need to win at least two of them, if not three more.
But, before we look into the oncoming traffic that is the Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons, and of course the Los Angeles Lakers, let’s take a look at who or what were the studs and duds from Monday’s big win.
Cavs two studs: Evan Mobley and the team’s overtime play
I don’t think I need to dive into too much detail on why Mobley was Monday’s biggest stud. The big man from USC had notched 30 points for the first time of his career, and it resulted in a win. If you look at the big picture, which I’ve tried to do in my weekly rookie ladder articles (here’s the latest one), it’s very rare to see a rookie have such a positive impact on a team.
I may not know everything, but it’s pretty clear to me that Evan Mobley doesn’t appear to have much, if any baggage, either. On an episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast from the end of January, Brian Windhorst said it best when talking about Mobley’s impact on winning, which this being an excerpt from that clip.
"“To actually be able to say we’re going to win games because of me (Mobley), as a 19-year-old, is very un-heard of. And when you watch him play, he’s got a lot of room to grow.”"
Obviously, there’s more to it, and I would encourage every NBA fan to listen to the 15-minute clip from the whole episode (and you can listen to the full episode here), as the two go back and forth on Mobley, Garland, and some of the other best young players in the league. Alright, so back to Mobley.
In regards to the quote, I don’t think you could put it any better than Windhorst did. Mobley was sensational Monday night, while also being very efficient. However, when you watch the young man, there are definitely moments where you wish he would have been stronger and grabbed a rebound, or backed down a smaller player, and that’s fine.
Mobley does have a lot of room to grow, and if anything these last few games have just been more proof of how special of a player the Cavs drafted with the third overall pick.
Also, overtime was a stud here. Yes, the Cavaliers needed the win, so a lot of use watching were surely on pins and needles. Sometimes every once in a while you need a quick jolt of overtime to get you back into basketball mode. On top of that, the Cavs are now undefeated in overtime games.
Cavs two duds: Bench depth and second halves
There weren’t a lot of duds to pick from in this game. The Cavs had an efficient outing, shooting 48% from the field, and 50% from deep. On top of that they won the rebounding battle and got to the line 15 more times than the Clippers. But, this was a game that makes you a little nervous with the Cavaliers bench.
Yes it was great to get LeVert back, and he will undoubtedly contribute more as he gets more minutes. Kevin Love had 13 points. Unfortunately, he was only 4-of-11 from the field. Outside of those guys, the rest of the Cavs bench had zero points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, a block and a turnover. That is horrible production from the bench. Cedi Osman saw his minutes dwindle to eight, while Dylan Windler and Brandon Goodwin played 12 minutes each.
With so many injuries it’s hard to blame head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, as he doesn’t have a lot to work with. However, the most damning stat of all may be that outside of Love and LeVert, the Cavs bench took just two shots. Both taken by Windler, who was coming off a G League assignment stint and has not been involved in the rotation.
From there, Rajon Rondo is out along with Jarrett Allen, and Monday night Dean Wade was missed as well. With that being said, someone on the bench needs to start taking shots and hopefully making shots.
The other dud from the game I need to briefly mention is the second half and the second halves of games. While this last one wasn’t necessarily a great example, it’s becoming a worrying trend.
Offensively, the Cavaliers are atrocious in the second half, and even more so in recent weeks. They seem to hit a lull after halftime because they are 27th in the league in second half scoring now, with only 51.4 points per half.
To put that in perspective, that is only slightly above the New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Pistons. I don’t know what Bickerstaff needs to do to light a fire under the team at half, but it would help if he comes up with an idea quickly.
To part on a better note, the Cavs are fifth in the NBA in scoring defense in the second half. They only allow 51.1 points per half. So, if you read this part of the article and were wondering the whole time where the Cavaliers were getting wins, the answer is on defense, my friends.
In the end, it’s a big win for the Wine and Gold, but they better gear up for Joel Embiid and James Harden, as the Sixers come to town on Wednesday night.