At this juncture, it’s becoming more and more difficult for the Cleveland Cavaliers to string together victories. The Cavaliers did find a way to win on Monday versus the Orlando Magic, and over the week of March 14-20, they did have a 3-1 week, and things did appear to moving back in the right direction then.
Unfortunately for the Wine and Gold and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, with how injuries have really depleted them, the past week-and-a-half of games have not been fruitful, and Cleveland has lost five of its last six in that span. The Cavs did pretty well offensively on Wednesday in the front end of a back-to-back versus the Dallas Mavericks, but their defense was picked apart by Luka Doncic, and Dallas shot 38.1 percent from three-point range. The third quarter really did the Cavaliers in in that one.
Looking past that contest, in what was the second leg of a back-to-back for both teams and was a make-up game from earlier this season, the Cavaliers just could not stay within striking distance nearly enough to have a chance on Thursday night at the Atlanta Hawks.
It’s just been tough for Cleveland defensively, particularly since the loss of Jarrett Allen early last month because of a fractured finger, and this was the second straight game Evan Mobley has been out due to an ankle sprain.
The Cavaliers just couldn’t contain Atlanta’s penetration nearly enough when they needed to, and similarly to Doncic, with the Cavs not being nearly what they can be when healthier, Trae Young had his way a bunch with spotty rim protection.
There were not many positives from this one, what was a 131-107 loss, but we can find at least one, always. It’s still just difficult for the team right now to put together four quality quarters and have them string together runs.
With that, we’ll touch on who was the Cavs’ top performer, and examine what went wrong on Thursday night in our latest stud/dud from this blowout L to Atlanta.
Beginning with the Cavs stud, we’ll touch on Cedi Osman‘s night.
Cavs stud: Cedi Osman
Cedi Osman has not been regularly involved in the rotation recently, and while I haven’t been his necessarily biggest cheerleader in the past two seasons before this year, it still has been odd that he hasn’t been in games much, if any, of late.
Dylan Windler has been doing decent things, particularly defensively and as a rebounder, and he’s gotten some time over Osman, realistically, recently. Windler had been in a G League stint with the Cleveland Charge, though, and we still haven’t seen him knock down shots much, if at all, and at this point, I do still find it odd that Osman had been the odd man out of late for Cleveland.
That said, Osman for much of the season has given the Cavaliers a jolt off the bench, and him having clarity with this role this year has helped. On the year, he’s had 10.8 points per outing, and even with a rough stretch of shooting, has been a decent catch-and-shoot threat overall, and has helped some as a passer and driver.
Now, Osman hasn’t been able to find consistent success post-All-Star break, and he’s going to have streakiness in his game, but he has still had a resurgent season, and it was good to see an impressive night from Osman again.
A good amount of the production from Osman was with the game in garbage time on Thursday night, sure, but he was giving the Cavs energy, honestly, throughout the game, and I’m not going to discount his 21-point performance here. He was shooting the ball with confidence, going 3-of-6 from three, got to the line, going 4-of-6, and tacked on six rebounds and four assists.
He did have three turnovers, however, by and large, Osman was a bright spot for the Cavaliers last night in an otherwise blowout loss that was disheartening, at this point in the season.
As a side note, even with some mistakes, which are understandable, Moses Brown gave the Cavs some solid play, too, with 15 points and 13 rebounds. He was recently on two 10-day deals and was signed via two-way deal, per a report from Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, and for a developmental big, there could be something there.
Next, we’ll touch on the dud for Cleveland at Atlanta on Thursday.
Cavs dud: Third quarter
Admittedly, this Cavs team just looks gassed right now, and not having their All-Star center in Jarrett Allen, and being without their Rookie of the Year frontrunner in Evan Mobley, regarding defense, doesn’t help. The same goes for not having even Dean Wade, involving perimeter defense in that realm, and Wade is a sound team defender, too.
So, to get that out there, not having Allen’s presence and defensive IQ against a very hot in Atlanta, along with Mobley once again, is not going to generally bode well.
Generally speaking, the Cavaliers had their share of issues here on defense, and in the third quarter, especially, Cleveland’s fate in this one was sealed. The Hawks began the third with a 13-point advantage, and they quickly built on that.
Atlanta was of course led by Young again overall in this game, as he had 30 points on 9-of-17 shooting, to go with nine assists in 30 minutes, and Kevin Huerter had 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting. And honestly, Atlanta’s energy in that third just put this one away, as while the Cavs were hanging around in the first half, the Hawks ran out ahead and at one point, were leading by 26 points then early into it.
On the offensive end, too, the Cavs, who were outscored 34-22 by the Hawks in the third, couldn’t seem to generate, or from there, hit looks in key times to get back in it when they needed to, and this one was essentially over from there.
In that third, Darius Garland was just 1-of-8 from the field, but I’m not going to crush him for then and his 7-of-21 night, given his workload and the Cavs’ set of circumstances at the moment. Mostly aside from Thursday night, Garland has more than done his part. Now, there were some off looks from him, and the team going just 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) in the third was basically the end in this one, really.
Objectively, however, this last Cavaliers loss at the Hawks was a disheartening one, given how the Cavs just seem to be running out of gas at this point, and even before the Mobley injury, had still had their share of issues. It also is anything but easy for the Cavs, at this point in the season, to be amid a five-game-in-seven-night stretch this week, though, and I get that.
The Wine and Gold will have a chance to help themselves, involving play-in home court advantage, perhaps, with a potential win at the New York Knicks on Saturday on the road, in what’s the first leg of another back-to-back. Cleveland hosts the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday.