Heading into their game on Monday night at the San Antonio Spurs, the Cleveland Cavaliers were coming off winning two of their three games last week at home versus the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder, and one should’ve expected them to win on Monday.
The Spurs have had a bunch of injury woes already this season, much like the Cavs, and with Jakob Poeltl being out on Monday, Cleveland seemed set to have their way on the interior, and perhaps in pick-and-roll when needed.
The Cavs got Donovan Mitchell back from him missing the past two contests with lower leg soreness, but with the Spurs being 8-18 coming into Monday, despite their two consecutive wins, Cleveland should’ve been able to handle this one even without Mitchell.
Nonetheless, that’s not what occurred. The Spurs controlled the game for most of it, and were ahead for most of the contest by 10-plus points, and they led by 16 going into halftime. At one point, San Antonio held a 19-point lead deep into the third quarter as well.
Credit to the Spurs, who moved the ball well for much of the game, made plays in transition, were active in the paint, and also in some sequences, the likes of Devin Vassell and Josh Richardson made a bunch of difficult shots when they needed them. Those two players were crucial off the bench for San Antonio, as they had 16 and 24 points, respectively, and Richardson made five triples.
The Cavs did seemingly flip a switch to close the third, and they turned up their effort in the fourth quarter, and eventually, clawed their way back all the way to being down two, and Evan Mobley had a chance to tie the contest with 37.2 seconds left. He made one of two free throws, the Cavaliers would then get stops, but fell just short in a scrambling sequence, as Darius Garland missed an open corner triple, and Mitchell’s pass attempt was picked off.
Ultimately, Cleveland’s comeback effort was simply too late, and the Cavs just couldn’t make shots enough through three quarters to give themselves a quality chance here in a 112-111 loss. Their road woes continued, with the Cavs being only 5-9 now on the year on the road.
So with that said, let’s get into our stud and dud for the Cavs from Monday’s loss to the Spurs.
We’ll start with the stud here, in Caris LeVert.
Cavs stud: Caris LeVert
In a game that had to have been head-scratching for many Cavs fans, with how the Spurs controlled the game for the vast majority of the first three quarters, I have to give LeVert his due for being a bright spot throughout the night.
LeVert is definitely a guy who has had his ups and downs this season, and is now coming off the bench, typically, but at times, he still has shown he can provide a noteworthy spark for this Cleveland team.
That was on display on Monday night, as LeVert had 23 points on nine-of-13 from the field, to go with three assists (albeit to two turnovers). He was getting some of his pull-ups to go, and him, along with Mitchell, who had 28 points, were the two guys that kept the Cavs semi-afloat enough to eventually try to circle the wagons late and make a run.
As it pertained to LeVert, he was attacking, getting downhill in secondary transition, utilizing the change-of-pace and meaningful body control at the basket he’s shown at times when he’s at his best in his role with Cleveland. His secondary playmaking and hustle plays shouldn’t go unnoticed, either.
He, along with most of the Wine and Gold, couldn’t get three balls to fall (he was one-of-four), however, LeVert’s aggression, but also more under control play on Monday led to him having success often. Him being a team-high plus-14 in the game, largely given the Cavs’ fourth quarter near-comeback effort, of which he was a central figure, was telling, too. So props to him.
Cavs dud: Second quarter play
As for the Cavaliers dud from Monday night, while it was not a good shooting night from Darius Garland, going just seven-of-22 overall and one-of-six from three, he did contribute in other ways, with nine assists and even seven rebounds. But, for what it’s worth, Garland does admittedly need to clean up some turnovers, as those have been more of a problem of late.
Lamar Stevens was scoreless in 25 minutes, and did have any shot attempts, which was strange, as an aside, and Cleveland going just five-of-23 from three-point land (21.7 percent) was a team candidate.
For the dud here, though, I have to go with Cleveland’s second quarter on Monday night. The Spurs took it to the Cavs there, outscoring the Wine and Gold 36-22, which took them into the break up by 16, and the Cavs were playing catch-up from there.
After first quarter offensive rebounds were a key reason for their success in the opening period, San Antonio in that second quarter was getting downhill after defensive stops, somewhat due to Cavaliers possessions being stagnant, leading to run-outs at times the other way. And in some other instances, the Cavs just appeared to be a step or two slow defensively, whether it was in individual defense or as rotators.
On the offensive end in that second quarter, Garland was forcing things a bit it seemed, and he went just two-of-nine from the field then, and the Cavs as a group were zero-of-six from three in that period. Some of those looks the Wine and Gold appeared to be settling here and there, too, which, when those looks aren’t from movement, can at times lead to the Cavaliers going cold for stretches, especially in these recent road games.
Anyways, while some bad stretches are bound to happen, the Cavs could’ve probably pulled this one out if they had a bit more urgency it seemed at various times in that second quarter. Maybe if that happened, things could’ve gone differently, and they still could’ve pulled this out from having to just stick around, as opposed to having to mount a comeback attempt in the late-third/fourth quarter.
Hopefully the Wine and Gold can sharpen up some things and be in better position in the second half on Wednesday at the Dallas Mavericks.