Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse was packed on Monday night to watch the hometown Cleveland Cavaliers take on a familiar face in LeBron James, who had plenty of his fans in attendance.
Cleveland fell behind 6-0 early but then stormed back to lead by as many as 14 points in the opening 12 minutes against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Wine and Gold connected on 52 percent of their shots in the first quarter and led by seven points.
However, the Cavaliers’ lead did not last long, as their defense took a turn for the worse in the 2nd quarter. Cleveland allowed the Lakers to score 39 points while shooting an unbelievable 71.4 percent from the floor.
While the Lakers seemingly could not miss a shot in the 2nd quarter, Cleveland’s offense cooled off, hitting only 10-of-25 from the floor, including just 3-of-14 from beyond the arc. Despite the poor 2nd quarter, Cleveland trailed by just five points going into the half.
Cleveland was able to get back into the game in the 3rd quarter with a balanced scoring attack. Eight different players scored for the Wine and Gold, and as a team, they shot nearly 67 percent. The Lakers still managed to shoot over 50 percent in the 3rd quarter and trailed the Cavaliers by a single point going into the final quarter.
Cleveland’s defense, however, would falter in the 4th quarter, as the Lakers would shoot 65 percent as several of their makes came from great ball movement resulting in easy looks right near the rim. Overall in the final frame, LA outscored the Cavaliers by 12 points and for the game scored 131 points, which is the second-highest point total allowed by Cleveland this season.
Los Angeles was, of course, led by LeBron, who recorded a triple-double by scoring 38 points, dishing out 12 assists, and grabbing 11 rebounds. Backup point guard D.J. Augustin also burned the Cavaliers by going a perfect 6-of-6 from beyond the arc.
All-in-all, the Cavs fell short in one of their biggest games this season, and with the Eastern Conference playoff race coming down to the wire, every game is a meaningful one for the Wine and Gold.
Cleveland did get a great performance from one of their young stars despite the disappointing result, and that leads us into our stud of the game.
Cavs stud in their L to the Lakers on Monday: Darius Garland
Darius Garland has been on an absolute tear in March. The third-year point guard is averaging 26.4 points and 11.5 assists in 11 games this month. Garland is hitting 43 percent of his shots overall but is only connecting on 34.7 percent of his three-point attempts; he’s still coming up huge, though.
Monday night was no different, as Garland connected on 10-of-23 shots overall but hit just 2-of-8 from beyond the arc. But what made Garland’s performance a solid one was the 17 assists he dished out.e
Garland has proved he can score from anywhere on the floor, but what is making him so tough to defend is his ability to dish out jaw-dropping passes. Teams are drawn into Garland because of his scoring ability, and he has proven time and time again he can find the open man, whether it be beyond the arc or on a lob feed.
The one concerning number to watch for moving forward is the number of minutes Garland is playing on a nightly basis. This month Garland is averaging 39.6 minutes per game and is shouldering a lot of the Cavaliers’ load offensively. He also looked to have hurt his finger a bit late in the game, but he did finish the game out and postgame, did reportedly say his finger “feels great,” via Evan Dammarell of Fear The Sword and Right Down Euclid.
While Garland is in prime physical shape and is only 22 years old, he is being asked to do quite a bit, and the concern is he could be worn down by the time the playoffs roll around. The finger doesn’t seem to be to be a big concern thankfully, but his overall workload does, to some degree, given all he is tasked with doing for this team.
Fatigue does not seem to be an issue yet, and Garland is doing all he can to ensure the Cavaliers get to the playoffs for the first time without LeBron since the 1997-98 season.
However, not all members of the Cavs have played their best basketball lately.
Cavs dud from L to Lakers on Monday: Caris LeVert
After being acquired via trade from the Indiana Pacers, Caris LeVert played just four games for Cleveland before going down with a foot injury. LeVert missed roughly a month, and Monday night’s game against the Lakers was just his fifth game back in the rotation.
LeVert is averaging 26 minutes in March and is scoring 11 points per game. What is concerning is LeVert is connecting on just 39 percent of his shots this month and is connecting on only 33.3 percent of his three-point attempts.
LeVert is a capable playmaker with the ball in his hands, as he is averaging four assists per game over his last five games. However, he will sometimes dribble too much and gets himself into trouble.
Against the Lakers, LeVert’s biggest issue was staying out of foul trouble. Caris was on the court for just 16 minutes and did connect on 4-of-7 shots but turned the ball over twice and committed five fouls.
The injury to LeVert came at a terrible time, as now he only has 10 more regular season games to get into a rhythm before the playoffs begin. If the Cavs are going to make any noise in the postseason, LeVert will have to be that secondary playmaker next to Garland we all envisioned when the trade first went down.
LeVert needs to let the game come to him, as he has shown plenty of times he can take over a game with his scoring ability.
Cleveland is still one game up on Toronto for the 6th and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. While the loss to the Lakers was a tough one to watch, it is only one game. The defense is undoubtedly a concern, but some of that poor defense can be attributed to Jarrett Allen being out and Mobley playing just 27 minutes due to foul concerns.
The Cavaliers have no time to hang their heads, as their next two games are crucial. Cleveland faces Toronto (7th place in the East) on Thursday and then the Chicago Bulls (5th place in the East) on Saturday night.
Winning those games will be vital to the Cavaliers holding onto their guaranteed playoff spot.