Currently, the Cleveland Cavaliers are three games into their first lengthy road trip of the 2022-23 season, with the team last letting one slip away Monday at the LA Clippers.
The game was one with runs for both sides, and for two-and-a-half quarters or so, there was plenty of big-time shooting from both sides. The game generally had its share of fireworks, before things bogged down some.
From there, the Cavaliers would start to assert themselves, and picked up strings of stops in the fourth quarter, and with about five minutes left, looked to be well-positioned to put the game away.
Unfortunately, it didn’t play out that way. The Clippers ratcheted up their defense, Cleveland’s ball and man movement stagnated at a bad time, seemingly due to fatigue to some degree, and the Clips took advantage of getting to the free throw line in the bonus. Eventually, despite Cleveland at one point having a 112-100 lead with 4:37 left, L.A. stormed back, took the lead, and would go on to win 119-117.
This game was not one to be too frustrated about, though, in the grand scheme. This Cavaliers team is still largely young at its core, and these types of games can be meaningful for them to learn from.
Granted, it did leave a bad taste in ones’ mouth, sure, but despite that, the road trip has treated the team well so far, with wins at the Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Lakers in mind, too.
It was disappointing how the Cavs couldn’t finish at the Clips, however, they’ve had a solid road trip thus far.
Make no mistake, the Cavaliers let that game slip away, with fatigue looking to be a factor in that stretch run for the Clippers. The Cavs being scoreless because of lack of ball movement in the closing part of that game did them in, which stunk, considering they’d been moving it so well throughout the contest, and a bunch in other games.
And at times in that last Clipper game, I frankly thought it would have been sensible to have Lamar Stevens in there as an alternative to Isaac Okoro, and just perhaps as an alternative to Evan Mobley at the 5 for a bit, Robin Lopez could’ve been useful there.
Mobley did have a fairly effective game offensively off-ball, which was a key factor in him amassing 26 points, but he did end up fouling out, due to the fourth quarter in times when Jarrett Allen was not out there, to a considerable extent. Mobley was a minus-20 in the contest, also, and while that’s completely uncharacteristic, he wasn’t his best defensively in that one.
That said, even with this last frustrating close to last game for Cleveland, as we hit on, this road trip has had its share of positives.
The Cavs handled business at the Pistons and Lakers
As far as the positives, the Cavs demolished the Pistons on Friday without Darius Garland (knee sprain) and Donovan Mitchell (ankle sprain) in the lineup.
In that contest, five players had 11 or more points, and the Wine and Gold had 30 assists in a 112-88 victory. Kevin Love nearly had a triple-double in just 23 minutes, and could’ve assuredly gotten one, and Cedi Osman had 15 points and six assists off the bench. Along with those contributions, while offensively it was rocky, Mobley had a career-best eight blocks in that Pistons game.
After the beatdown of Detroit, the Cavs rebounded from a first half that was far from stellar, and put the clamps down in the second half, leading to a 114-100 win over the Lakers on Sunday. In that one, Garland and Mitchell combined for 42 first half points, keeping the Cavaliers in it, and in the second half, the aesthetically pleasing Cavaliers basketball, and stifling defense, was back on display.
And in that outing, Kevin Love didn’t have his shot going, necessarily, but had a double-double in his 20 minutes, Cedi Osman had nine points and Dean Wade was very active on defense. Those three bench guys gave the group energy once again in their minutes, and were plus-22, plus-19 and plus-13 in their time on the floor, respectively.
The Lakers are a club that’s struggling, obviously, however, it was good to see the Wine and Gold respond in the second half, as they have on a number of occasions this season already.
So, to rewind a bit, while the result on Monday night at the Clips left a bad taste in the mouth as a Cavaliers fan, all things considered, this current road trip has had its share of positives thus far.
This Cavs roadie has had its positives, including at the Clips, and Love is making an impact
Even in the Clippers loss, there were encouraging signs, as Donovan Mitchell went nuclear in that game on Monday, as he hit eight-of-11 from three-point range, and so far on the year, he’s 37-of-82 from three, en route to a 45.1 percent clip. The shot-making and three-level scoring from him has given the whole team more confidence, too, it seems.
Also in that game, Kevin Love was tremendous, with 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and was a plus-16 in the outing.
There’s going to be some ups and downs for Love as he keeps getting more acclimated, after last season, to his bench role. Regardless, it’s apparent that Love can still knock down shots for the Cavaliers in his minutes, and his ball movement sense and great defensive rebounding makes a world of difference when he’s in there for Cleveland.
We’ve seen that play out on a number of occasions already this season, and on the year, he’s had 12.6 points and 7.7 rebounds in 20.4 minutes per contest. That was comparable to his last season, when he had 13.6 points and 7.2 boards in 22.5 minutes per outing, and finished as the runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year.
So, overall, the Wine and Gold is now 8-2 following a very impressive eight-game win streak, and as they continue to gel, this Cavaliers team should gradually improve as they gain more experience playing with Mitchell.
Keep your chin up, Cavs fans. This team can learn from that Clippers contest, and they surely will. This group is just getting started, and next up, they have a great chance to bounce back on Wednesday at the Sacramento Kings.