One stud, two duds for the Cavs from Sunday’s L to Knicks

Cavs duds: Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro

Since returning from injury in the beginning of the season, we don’t often get duds from Darius Garland, who has been on a tear in recent weeks. However, last night was one of the few. The point guard only scored 17 points, on under 30% shooting from the field. On top of that he was only able to dish out three assists on the night.

Usually on an off shooting night, Garland finds ways to affect the game without scoring, but last night was not that type of night. While he only had three assists, he topped that with four turnovers. Only assisting on three scoring possessions and turning the ball over four times is not acceptable from an NBA point guard, especially for a team with deep playoff aspirations.

Aside from Garland, the bench is also slowly becoming another issue. The real question might be about the head coach in Bickerstaff’s rotation, rather than the players, but either way last night was not a good look for the bench unit, especially Isaac Okoro.

After a slew of games where he impressed, Okoro played 13 minutes and scored no points on 0-of-3 shooting. Him being a minus-10 was the third-worst mark on the team. The real disappointing thing about Okoro is that when he was drafted he was a great perimeter defender, and still is in some ways in the NBA.

But, in a game where the Cavs were pumping up the pressure, he had zero steals, no blocks, and four fouls. If that’s all we’re going to get from Okoro, it might be time to move on from the former Auburn swingman eventually.

Overall, the world isn’t ending for the Cavaliers after one bad loss. It wasn’t their best shooting night, but that’s starting to become a bit concerning. Good teams find ways to win versus bad teams, even when they aren’t shooting the ball particularly well.

Cleveland will host LeBron James and the Lakers on Tuesday night, in what has become an important game early in the season. Anthony Davis looks to be getting back to his old ways, and capped a run of good games with a 55-point performance on Sunday night. It will definitely be a great matchup for Evan Mobley.

Even with their shooting woes, the Cavs are still a very good team. When Jarrett Allen comes back from injury it should strengthen their defense and solidify Bickerstaff’s rotation. One concern moving forward is the Cavs playing away from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

They fell to 5-8 on the road after the loss last night. Luckily, they get the Lakers at home on Tuesday night.