If you take a look at how the Eastern Conference is shaping up, and how the playoff picture might play out, it’s going to be tough to stay among the top seeds. After Sunday night’s 92-81 loss to the New York Knicks, when they shot just 34.9 percent, the Cleveland Cavaliers sit in third place in the conference.
They’re two games behind the Milwaukee Bucks in second place, and four games behind the Boston Celtics in first. If last night is any indication of things to come, that third seed could become an eight-seed before before we know it, as the difference between the Cavs and the 10th-place team in the East (New York) is only four games.
Cleveland started out very sluggish, scoring only 16 points in the first quarter. From there, it never got much better as the Knicks led the entire game, and ended a five-game losing skid. New York was led by Jalen Brunson who had 23 points on 7-of-16 shooting. Julius Randle also pitched in 18 points, while RJ Barrett had 15.
After trailing by two at halftime, the Cavaliers couldn’t keep up with the Knicks and were outscored by five and three respectively in the third and fourth quarters.
Donovan Mitchell again led the Cavs in scoring, putting up 23 points on 8-of-22 shooting, but was just 2-of-11 from three. Darius Garland had a rough outing, scoring only 17 points, while shooting 3-of-9 from deep. Jarrett Allen missed another game due to injury, and it’s becoming a concern for J.B. Bickerstaff, who got zero points from two-way forward Mamadi Diakite, in 11 minutes.
With that said, here, let’s take a closer look at a stud and a couple of individual duds from the Cavs’ loss on Sunday to the Knicks.
We’ll start with the stud.
Cavs stud: Forcing turnovers
There wasn’t a lot to cheer for last night on the offensive end of the court. Cleveland was an atrocious 23% (8-of-35) from three-point range, which was somehow better than New York’s 17% (5-of-29) clip. On top of that, the Cavaliers shot under 40% from the field, which is unlike them in recent games.
However, one thing the Cavaliers did well last night was force turnovers. While they did commit 17 turnovers themselves, they forced the Knicks into 20. On the season the Knicks rank seventh in the NBA, committing only 14 turnovers per game.
With Evan Mobley protecting the rim, even without Jarrett Allen in there again on Sunday, it allowed the Cavaliers perimeter defenders to be more aggressive. Mobley himself still had a whopping four blocks on Sunday night, which allowed guys like Cedi Osman (3 steals) and Lamar Stevens (2 steals) to get into passing lanes and pressure ball-handlers on the outside. Obviously, this helps the Cavs get out on the break and score easy points in transition.
After only scoring 81 points last night, a season-low, the Cavs will need to find some other ways to get their offensive flow going again. Hopefully they do so in upcoming games this week, where being at home should help still still young group, considering how it has thus far.
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.