The Memphis Grizzlies are the favorites to win the Western Conference, are playing with essentially their full rotation and were at home against a Cleveland Cavaliers team without Donovan Mitchell and Dean Wade. They should have won last night, and for much of the game had a double-digit lead on the Cavs.
Until they didn’t, as Darius Garland got going and very nearly led the Cavs all the way back. He was slicing into the defense and creating shots for teammates, and Garland finished with 14 assists as he continually hit Isaac Okoro on the perimeter or Evan Mobley in the lane for baskets. The Cavs took the lead and had the ball with a one-point margin with 30 seconds to go.
Then, unfortunately, the problems came. Okoro took a five-second call trying to inbound the ball, turning it over to the Grizzlies. Ja Morant drove to the rim and missed the shot, but Steven Adams got the rebound and put in the basket to put Memphis back in front. On the other end the Cavs ran without a timeout but couldn’t get an opening, with Caris LeVert stoned and passing to Garland, whose last-second shot was blocked by Dillon Brooks.
It was a bitter loss given how close the Cavs came, but Garland showed he is a special guard continuing to improve and Evan Mobley was everywhere on defense and pulled in 15 rebounds. Isaac Okoro went 4-for-4 from deep en route to 17 points. This Cavaliers team is deep and is good enough to win even with their best player. Unfortunately, they didn’t quite get that win on Wednesday night.
More Cavs news
Heading into the season, one could reasonably have chosen Kevin Love as the best shooter on the Cavaliers and Isaac Okoro as the worst. Early in the season that was proven out, but recently things have changed in a dramatic way. Love has been very inaccurate since returning from a thumb injury (something he discussed with Chris Fedor in a recent interview), shooting just 17.1 percent in the month of January.
On the other hand, as rumors swirl about potential trades for a starter at small forward, Okoro has stepped back into the starting lineup and shot 15-of-24 from deep, a team-best 62.5 percent. Shooting numbers in a small sample are always wild, but Okoro has only shot this well over a nine-game span once, in the final weeks of last season.
At one time, a cold shooting stretch from Harrison Barnes helped propel the Cleveland Cavaliers to the only title in franchise history. Could trading for Barnes help propel the Cavs to a second title? On the site this morning we discussed how such a trade could work and why it would help the Cavs.
NBA news
The best teams in the Western Conference were all in action last night, with mixed results. The Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets pulled out wins against would-be spoilers, as did the Memphis Grizzlies against the Cavs. The Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans were both embarrassed at home by middling East teams, and the LA Clippers were walloped by the Utah Jazz.
Coming up: The Golden State Warriors come to town on Friday night in the rematch of the two team’s four-straight NBA Finals.