The Cleveland Cavaliers rolled into Milwaukee on Black Friday with more swagger than they did nine days earlier. Good teams lose to great teams; great teams lose to another great team, get back up and hit back. The Cavs were planning to hit back and avenge the 15-point loss in Milwaukee.
Things started right as the Cavs took the lead and held it for the entire first half. They built the lead out to as many as 16 points, with Donovan Mitchell cooking en route to 21 first-half points. The Cavs peaked at a 91.3 percent win probability late in the second quarter.
The Cleveland Cavaliers couldn’t stop Giannis Antetokounmpo. Who stood out from the Cavs’ loss to the Bucks on Black Friday?
Then Giannis Antetokounmpo came out of the gates in the third quarter looking for blood, and the Cavs couldn’t find the solution to slow him down. Jarrett Allen, hampered by a hip injury suffered in the first quarter, played just four minutes after halftime before shutting it down for the night. The rest of the Cavaliers couldn’t stop the two-time MVP and the Greek Freak finished with 38 points.
After leading by 16 the Cavs went on to lose by 15, with the Bucks taking the third quarter 35-10. It was a disappointing night for many Cleveland players; did anyone have a good game? At least one did, so we will highlight him and then look to the most disappointing performer. Here is one stud and one dud from the Black Friday loss.
1 stud from Cavs’ loss to Bucks: Isaac Okoro
It’s no secret that Isaac Okoro has struggled this season. After two years of proving himself on defense and blowing it on offense, the question coming into this year was whether Okoro could find his shot (and his confidence) or if he would be replaced in the team’s plans moving forward.
Through 19 games this season, Okoro is following the second course; he is averaging only 3.9 points per game and shooting 19.2 percent from 3-point range. He’s getting only token minutes when the Cavs are at full strength. Yet, if there is hope for Okoro, it may have started on Friday night against the Bucks.
For only the second time all season Okoro scored double-digit points, dropping 13 on the Bucks as he played a season-high 31 minutes. With Lamar Stevens, Kevin Love and Caris LeVert missing the game, and Allen playing only 12 minutes, space opened up for Okoro and he took advantage. He shot four 3-pointers, a big number for him, and most impressively he shot 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.
In a game that the Cavs lost by 15 points, they played eight players in the regular rotation. All of them had a negative plus/minus except Allen (+4 in 12 minutes) and Okoro. The Cavs outscored the Bucks by three points in his 31+ minutes and were outscored by 18 in the other 16 minutes. An Okoro playing with confidence and attacking the basket could be valuable enough to keep in the rotation, and that is what the team saw on Friday night.
1 dud from Cavs’ loss to Bucks: Evan Mobley
There have been games this season where Evan Mobley has been simply dominant defensively, swatting away shots and moving fluidly around the perimeter. For much of the season he has been a truly special defender, flexing versatility you rarely see in a player, especially one in his second year. The common denominator for those games of defensive brilliance? Jarrett Allen sharing the court.
Allen has been one of the league’s best rim protectors this season, right there with Myles Turner and his foil on Friday night, Brook Lopez. Yet when Allen went out with the hop injury it meant that Mobley was called upon to check Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The result was ugly, as Antetokounmpo shredded Mobley and the Cavs’ defense without Allen on the court. Mobley didn’t register a single block and repeatedly stepped the wrong way trying to close off the paint to Antetokounmpo. Defenses find success against Giannis building a “wall” in the paint; instead, Mobley and the Cavs built a runway. The second-half of this Giannis highlight package is filled with Mobley miscues:
Note especially the miscommunication at the 2:04 mark.
Mobley wasn’t just bad on defense, he didn’t help on the offensive end either. He shot 2-for-12 from the field, part of a painful 39.1 percent shooting night for the Cavaliers. Mobley had eight points and 0 assists; in fact, no one on the Cavs had more than three assists.
Evan Mobley will have better games, but he has to develop as a rim protector who can survive without another big body behind him. If he can, then he will elevate his versatility and the Cavs will be equipped to weather absences from Allen. On Friday night, it was Antetokounmpo doing the elevating.