2 studs, 2 duds for Cavaliers in loss to Kings on Wednesday

Two Cavaliers duds: Darius Garland and closeouts

When it comes to the duds for this one, I have to go with Darius Garland, first, and then defensively, Cleveland’s closeouts.

As it pertained to Garland, he did have eight assists, and some of his dishes to the Cavaliers bigs were big-time, and we’ve grown accustomed to those leading to easy buckets for the Wine and Gold. He did have some key feeds on the perimeter to shooters as well, and in that area, he has seemingly shown continued improvement, and should keep getting better there.

Nonetheless, as a scorer, Garland was just one-of-nine from the field at Sacramento, and one-of-four from three-point range. He did go three-of-four from the free throw, but in totality, he had only six points, and when he’s in there for 34 minutes, you just simply don’t expect that from a player of DG’s caliber.

He’s still adjusting to playing off of Donovan Mitchell, and as a scorer, there’s going to be some inconsistencies with that. At times, he’s appeared to be pressing a bit in set offense, or has had to settle for tough shots, or trying to get feeds in that maybe aren’t there over the top.

He is probably still finding his rhythm after his eye injury, too, and I get that. And honestly, J.B. Bickerstaff should maybe have given Raul Neto some burn in this contest, to aid Garland and maybe Mitchell, to some extent, as an aside. That’s something I’ll be looking for as well, so we’ll see.

From there, for the second dud, regarding the closeouts defensively, those were a problem throughout this one. The Kings made some difficult shots from deep, and I give them their credit, and Cleveland had 18 turnovers, which didn’t aid their defense. This Kings team is one that wants to get out and run a bunch, too, as we mentioned before the contest.

Still, the Cavs communication/timing on their closeouts could’ve been better, and in far too many key stretches, the Wine and Gold fell short in that area. Some of had to do with Domantas Sabonis’ interior presence, and De’Aaron Fox’s driving gravity, but the amount of threes that were pretty darn open was frustrating to watch.

Sacramento hit 17 of their 39 triple attempts, a 43.6 percent clip, and the aformentioned Lyles had four of them, Keegan Murray had four and Malik Monk had three.

And not to mention, while the Cavs’ defensive activity was better after halftime, feasibly, and though the officiating wasn’t the greatest, the Kings drawing 35 free throw attempts had to have been on the Cavs, at least a bit.

Now, for what it’s worth, I thought with this last one being Cleveland’s third game since Sunday, Bickerstaff should’ve probably played a few guys, and Lamar Stevens could’ve been one of those, for defense.

I’ll be watching to see if that sort of thing occurs in the Cavaliers next few games ahead, as it could give the club a lift.

This wasn’t a great performance from the Cavaliers, no, I just don’t believe there’s a ton of reason to be concerned, as this could’ve been a schedule loss, and Cleveland is a new-look and still young squad. They’re 8-3, and teams are going to be getting up for playing them.