Five games in eight days, all on the road. Four of them in California. Facing off against some of the biggest names in the sport. This was supposed to be a stretch of the schedule that the Cavs aimed high but settled for good efforts and moral victories.
Then they laid waste to their opponents over the first few weeks of the season, demolished the Detroit Pistons without Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland to kick off the road trip and showed LeBron James what a functioning bench looks like. Suddenly, the expectations were sky-high, and against an LA Clippers team that was scuffling to start the season, another big win was ordered off the menu.
The Cleveland Cavaliers let go of the rope in an agonizing loss to LA Clippers. Who on the Cavs was the stud, the dud, and gets a shrug?
That win was all ready to be delivered on Monday night, in the nightcap to a packed 15-game NBA slate. The Cavs were up 111-98 with five minutes to go, with a win expectancy nearly touching the Crypto.com arena. Then something changed: the Cavs went cold, the Clippers started racking up turnovers and free throws, and they closed the game on a 21-6 run to steal the game.
The Cavs let go of the rope, in a way that was reminiscent of a young team not used to these high-pressure moments yet. In the grand scheme of things that’s fine; they lost by two points on the road against a title contender. Yet the Cavs need to focus briefly on the specifics to address the reasons they fell apart.
Let’s highlight the best player for the Cavs on Monday, the player who flashed some serious growth potential, and the player who had his best and worst game of the season against the Clippers. Who were the stud, the dud and the shrug from Monday night’s loss?
1 stud from Cavs’ agonizing loss to Clippers: Donovan Mitchell
Donovan Mitchell was once again an offensive powerhouse against the LA Clippers, carving up a team that is supposed to be stocked with perimeter stoppers. He scored 30 points on 10-of-15 shooting, including a scorching 8-for-11 from 3-point range. Six players this season have hit at least eight 3-pointers in a game; Mitchell is the only one to do it twice.
[Side note: How in the world did Julius Randle hit eight 3-pointers last night? EIGHT! That’s insane. Alright, back to our normally scheduled article]
He utilized off-ball movement to catch the ball on the run and either pull up or knife into the defense. His range this season has been incredible, as he has treated the entire space six or eight feet off of the line as fair game to fire. He is now shooting 45.1 percent from distance this year.
The other candidate here is Jarrett Allen, who absolutely dominated the Clippers’ front line. LA played Ivica Zubac 33 minutes and went small the rest of the time, and Allen punished whoever he faced to the tune of 20 rebounds. He also logged 10 points, three assists, two steals and two blocks. He’s the first player this season to hit those marks, and only three did so last year: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic and Andre Drummond.
1 dud from Cavs’ agonizing loss to Clippers: Darius Garland
Stating that Darius Garland had a bad game is certainly a relative ruling; he had 19 points and 12 assists, and was only -2 for the game. Isaac Okoro played 17 minutes and didn’t make a field goal, Caris LeVert was 2-for-8 and Cedi Osman was one made shot away from a 3 trillion. Yet to tell the story of this loss, you have to discuss how poorly Garland ended the game.
The reason the Cavaliers were undefeated without Garland in the starting lineup was that Donovan Mitchell has been one of the best closers in basketball this season. Even when Garland returned, he handed the baton off to Mitchell in the thrilling win over the Boston Celtics last Wednesday. Yet last night he seemed to want to find a way to close the game himself, and while he is certainly capable, the result was a disjointed offense that sputtered its way to just six points in the final five minutes.
Overall Garland shot just 8-for 17 from the field for the game, including 2-of-9 from deep. He missed multiple shots down the stretch, including an ill-advised stepback 30-footer and a layup that should have been a gimme. Even more concerning were the two turnovers, numbers four and five on the night. Terence Mann took one to the house on a pick-six, and the other immediately led into a foul to put Reggie Jackson on the line.
Garland was the only option to close games a year ago, and he often had to attempt difficult shots and risk turnovers to make anything happen. That’s not the case this year, with Mitchell every bit as capable of closing things out. Garland did some great things last night, but he also stumbled in his first attempt to carry the Cavs to the finish line.
1 shrug from Cavs’ agonizing loss to Clippers: Evan Mobley
The Cleveland Cavaliers have been wondering when Evan Mobley would have his big offensive breakout game. He certainly already had them on the defensive end, including when he went Dikembe-Mutombo on the Detroit Pistons on Friday with eight blocks. That offensive explosion finally came on Monday when Mobley dropped 26 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field. All 12 of those baskets came inside the paint as he dominated the Clippers’ small frontcourt.
On the other hand, he lacked some of that defensive impact last night. He had no steals and no blocks, three turnovers and fouled out after logging three fouls in the final five minutes to reach six for the game. In a game the Cavs lost by two points, he was a team-worst -20 on the night; the next-worst was Cedi Osman at -5.
When the Clippers began their run the Cavs were trying to survive with Evan Mobley at the 5, Kevin Love at the 4 and the three starters at the 1-3. That puts a lot of defensive pressure on Mobley, and he wasn’t able to lock down the Clippers. He obviously wasn’t helped by the turnovers committed by his teammates, and asking him to be the lone plus defender was a tough one from the coaching staff.
The Clippers are a good team, no matter their shaky start to the year, and the Cavs played well against them and could have won this game. The agonizing end hurts, and it should, but it helps to have game tape to look at for handling late-game scenarios. Darius Garland will bounce back and the Cavs should be in great shape for what looks like a true breakout season.