Down Donovan Mitchell on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ trip to Memphis, the visiting band couldn’t overcome a sizeable first-half deficit while visiting the birthplace of rock and roll.
As the home crowd roared, all that was missing were the electric screams of B.B. King’s guitar following Ja Morant through the tunnel as he entered the locker room.
In the first half, the Grizzlies’ fans turned anxious after Morant walked to the locker room holding his neck. He was in discomfort after crashing into Caris LeVert on a drive to the hole. With five minutes left in the first half, Ja got back in the game and ended the night with 24 points and eight assists.
The Grizzlies shut the door on the Cavs’ comeback chances with a second to go in the game. A near 19-point rally turned to dust as Garland missed the last shot and the buzzer echoed. It was a bitter loss for a team that came all the way back only to lose at the very end.
Group Dud from Cavaliers’ loss: The Bench
The second unit scored only 15% of Cleveland’s output (18 out of 114) on five out of 16 shots against Memphis’ 30 points by the reserves.
Darius Garland took his first rest just over seven minutes into the game. As he walked to the bench and Ricky Rubio stepped onto the court, the Cavs held a 22-16 lead. When Garland checked back in, the Grizzlies had feasted on a 15-8 scoring run to take a one-point advantage. Borrowing a term coined by retired Hall of Fame columnist Peter Vecsey, Rubio was a “pointless guard.” When hidden with two other backside Cavs in the zone, he stalled helping on opposing drives.
Kevin Love missed five consecutive 3-point attempts after making his singular triple from the left wing nine minutes into the action. The veteran big man abandoned his wits, failing to try one shot in the paint, and rebounded poorly being so close to the basket on defense (finishing with just one).
Cedi Osman and Raul Neto combined for 12 minutes of play and only contributed one field goal miss, three rebounds, two assists and a couple of fouls.
Group Studs from Cavaliers loss: The Starters
All five starters scored in double figures. LeVert was inserted in the initial rotation in Spida’s place. He dropped 23 points on 47% efficiency, with six dimes and four rebounds in 42 minutes. He was actively attacking the middle of Memphis’ 2-3 zone, collapsing the defense and exposing other areas of the floor.
Isaac Okoro continued his strong second half of the calendar by finishing his third game of the season without a miss and at least 10 points logged. All three times have happened since Dec. 29.
Okoro’s two close-range shots came on the fastbreak and in half-court. Following Jarrett Allen’s rejection of Morant’s floater, Garland secured the rebound and launched a hit-ahead pass to Okoro, gliding down the court. With no one in front of him, the ball landed at his chest; he took one step, then slammed the rock.
In the second quarter, Rubio’s pass found Okoro on the left wing. A reckless closeout by Morant allowed No. 35 to dribble into the paint for a left-handed finish against Jarren Jackson Jr, the shot blocker at his right. Memphis didn’t respect Okoro on four more possessions. Cleveland’s dribble penetration caused overhelping, even on the weak side, leaving Isaac with space he capitalized on.
Allen and Evan Mobley were like San Francisco’s offensive line, providing openings (through screening) for looks on the wings and driving lanes to the cup. Five of the Fro’s eight rebounds were offensive. If not for Jarrett recovering the team’s misses, the disparity in field goal attempts by both squads would have been extra alarming (Memphis 97- Cleveland 82).
Defending inverted PNR, Mobley was in drop coverage and matched up with Brandon Clarke. As Clarke was fed at the elbow, he dribbled into the lane and was swatted away by Evan. With fewer than five minutes to go and up a point, Morant sliced up Cleveland’s 2-3 zone on a cut to the rim. Eight feet away, Mobley, the backside helper, spiked the ball with two hands.
Garland scored 24 points on seven out of 17 attempts, but more impressively, he recorded 14 assists. Ten of his dimes came by breaking down the defense in the half-court. Although, the prettiest feed came in transition. On the right wing, Mobley split a screen on JJJ. DG flicked his wrist at the key, and the ball found Evan at the summit. With his arm extending a foot above the cylinder, he gently tapped it through the nylon.
Postgame sound
After the game, facing a room of reporters, Bickerstaff said, “There were some small things we let get away from us. Obviously, 19 turnovers, offensive rebounds, things like that, that against a team like this, you just have to be careful of. But we put ourselves in great position down the stretch. They just made one more play than we did.”