It was gut-wrenching to watch the Cleveland Cavaliers’ collapse down the stretch on Monday night in a loss to the LA Clippers.
In that outing, the third game of Cleveland’s current road trip, the Cavaliers found a way to pull ahead in the fourth quarter in what was mostly a back-and-forth affair leading into that, and with 4:37 left, they had a 12-point lead.
Unfortunately, the Wine and Gold hit a wall then, the offense hit a rut, and Paul George, Terance Mann and the Clippers climbed their way back and after a huge run, they went ahead, and found a way to win 119-117 over the Cavaliers. It was a rough finish to see as a Cavs fan, but on the plus side, the group had just won eight straight games, and on Wednesday night, they had a chance to get right back on track at the Sacramento Kings.
Things didn’t exactly play out that, was the thing. The Kings came out firing on all cylinders, and as has often been customary in the past few games, Cleveland wasn’t effective in the first half on defense; Sacramento had 69 first half points, and an 11-point halftime lead.
I do give the Cavaliers their credit, though. The Wine and Gold played with more urgency in the third quarter, and in the fourth, somewhat. At the end of the third, Cleveland was down by four, and despite a Trey Lyles three at the closing gun then, the momentum looked to have shifted.
Granted, again, the Cavs didn’t have the fourth quarter they’d have wanted, with how they closed the period, and turnovers and untimely fouls didn’t help. The Kings would eventually hit some big shots down the stretch, such as from Domantas Sabonis, Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter came to life then, and in the last few minutes, Sacramento had one more surge in them.
As a result, the Kings would go on to get the W 127-120, bringing them to 4-6 on the season, and the Cavaliers fell to 8-3.
There were a couple of guys who did stand out for the Cavaliers, however, and we’ll touch on those two next, before hitting on the two duds in the outing.
Two Cavaliers studs: Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert
As for the two biggest positives, I have to go with Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert here.
Mitchell, who has had a monster start to the season with his new team, kept churning along in this one, despite the Cavaliers’ ups and downs as a group. On Wednesday, he had 38 points, and was six-of-14 from three-point range.
Mitchell did take 28 shots to get there, sure, but he hit 16 of them, to go with tacking on five rebounds and four assists (albeit to three turnovers). Realistically, his shot-making, off movement and from pull-ups, and his driving from explosion and change-of-pace, helped get the Cavaliers back in this one. No free throw attempts for Mitchell was weird; even still, his three-level scoring was on display throughout.
In regards to LeVert’s outing, he had 21 points (on nine-of-18 shooting), 10 rebounds and six assists, to go with two steals. And it was nice to see him aid the team in giving them some energy as well, partially with his driving ability, and from hustle plays.
It has still been an adjustment this year in a relatively newer role for LeVert, and he’s still struggled as a scorer inside the arc in plenty of games, which has been puzzling. But, his quickness in getting downhill was big for the Cavaliers on Wednesday night.
After an uneven first quarter, he responded well, leading to 19 points in the final three quarters, and he made some heady passes leading to quality looks for others. His urgency to track down long rebounds made an impact once again for Cleveland in this last outing, too, which I don’t discount.
Now, LeVert did have five turnovers, and was a minus-10 (Mitchell was a minus-eight, for context), however, his aggression here and his energy plays helped get the Cavs juice to get back in the game, which was more of the takeaway relating to his play. I had to acknowledge that.
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.