Prior to their game on Sunday versus the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Cleveland Cavaliers had an underwhelming week. They dropped three straight games at the LA Clippers, Sacramento Kings and then Golden State Warriors to conclude their first lengthy road trip of the year.
The Cavs had rattled off eight consecutive wins prior to that, though, and this group should’ve won in two of those last three games, with losses at the Clippers and at the Warriors being the clear ones in that realm. Either way, heading into their last game on Sunday at home, Cleveland had a chance to right the ship a bit.
Donovan Mitchell (ankle strain) and Jarrett Allen (ankle soreness) were questionable coming into Sunday, so that was a storyline to keep in mind, of course. It would turn out that those two, along with Dean Wade (knee soreness), would not be in action here, so with that in mind, and this being the first game after that road trip, I had my doubts.
The Cavaliers were behind the eight ball from the opening tip practically, and after the first quarter, Minnesota had a 40-20 lead, and in the second quarter, despite some encouraging spurts here and there, Cleveland was down by 17 heading into halftime.
For the Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards was off, but D’Angelo Russell started off scorching hot, and finished with 30 points and 12 assists, and Karl-Anthony Towns added 29 points and 13 rebounds. Rudy Gobert was tough to account for as a roller with Allen out of the game, too, and his shot altering made Evan Mobley at the other end ineffective, as Evan had only four points, and had issues getting looks off.
Additionally, for Minnesota, Taurean Prince (a former Cav for a minute) had 19 points off the bench. All in all, the TWolves had their way here on offense, en route to putting up 129 points, and they shot 56.1 percent from the field. No, that was not a typo.
Needless to say, the way things were going for much of this contest, the Cavaliers looked to have no real shot at getting back into it by the end. Cleveland was down by 20 points, 104-84, heading into the fourth quarter, and with 5:14 left, Minnesota was up 117-100.
The Wine and Gold from there would get more unreal shooting from Darius Garland (we’ll touch more on that in a bit), and hustle plays from players such as Mobley, Lamar Stevens and Isaac Okoro helped the Cavs make the Timberwolves finish the game out with high leverage minutes. Nobody would’ve foreseen that coming in the third quarter, or feasibly, even at halftime.
Eventually, with more hot shooting from Garland, heady cuts from players such as Stevens, who had 15 points and six rebounds in a spot start, and Cedi Osman making some plays, the Cavs would climb all the way back to within two with 32.6 seconds remaining.
The Wolves did land a critical offensive rebound, Prince in fact, with 13.3 seconds left, and he made both free throws following that, and Cleveland would lose 129-124, but it was a valiant near-comeback attempt by Garland and company late.
So, moving along, we’ll examine the stud and dud for the Cavaliers from Sunday’s game.
Cavs stud: Darius Garland
For the Cavaliers stud, I’m going out on a limb here, in giving that to Darius Garland.
In a game where the Cavs didn’t seem to have it, if you will, for much of the outing, Garland did enough to keep the team at least in the ball park, and then went off in the fourth.
Garland finished with a career-high 51 points, which was a season-high league-wide, prior to Joel Embiid’s 59-point outing to come last night as well. Garland connected on 10 three-point shots, and registered 13 free throw attempts. He had 27 fourth quarter points, too, which were the most in a quarter individually in Cavs history (per Cavs Notes), and he helped will the Cavaliers back into this game.
With Mitchell and Allen out in this one, one had to imagine Garland would be shooting a bunch, and well, that’s what occurred.
His range, quickness, in-between game and his ability to separate were all on display on Sunday, and he tacked on six assists as well, and had Cleveland been more on-point in the first half, Garland could’ve had better playmaking splits.
Generally, though, after a three-game span where he had struggles as a scorer, it was good to see DG light it up again. He’s still shaking some rust off with the prior eye ailment and more recently, him being under the weather, but with more time with Mitchell and others, I still firmly believe Garland will be fine.
And this last game could be a big step forward for him in getting back on track after a brutal stretch.
Cavs dud: Lack of defensive urgency in the first half
For the dud in this one, I have to go with the lack of defensive urgency in the first half.
In another game from this past week with a slow start, the Cavaliers got bombarded defensively in the first half. No, not having Mitchell and Allen, and Dean Wade, also, didn’t help.
Still, the Cavs just seemed to be multiple steps slow too often in the first half, and D’Angelo Russell, Karl-Anthony Towns and Minnesota benefited greatly from that. The Cavaliers were down 67-50 going into halftime, and while the team appeared to be more in-tune with their closeouts to shooters in the third quarter, and later, the TWolves had far too many walk-in shots and got layups in transition.
That wasn’t all just because Allen and Wade, to some extent, weren’t in there.
Now, in fairness, the Cavaliers concluded a five-game mostly-California road trip on Friday night, and with the absences confirmed before the game, the team looking sluggish for much of the contest wasn’t inconceivable. But it is paramount that the Cavs get off to better starts in games and weeks ahead, as they often did in that eight-game winning streak.
Cleveland’s fourth quarter effort and nearly pulling off a huge comeback (they were at one point down 24) could be a boost for this Wine and Gold team, on the plus side for them to snap this four-game skid. And hopefully, upcoming rest days pay dividends.