In the Cleveland Cavaliers’ first of back-to-back games, they faced the Golden State Warriors, who were coming to town after going to overtime and losing in Boston just the night before to the Celtics. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, James Wiseman, Andre Iguodala, and Andrew Wiggins were all inactive for the Friday night matchup.
Before tipoff, the Cavs’ spread stretched to as high as -10.5 over at FanDuel. It was the opposite of what we expected without the Warriors’ core players like Steph Curry competing in Cleveland. The Cavs didn’t necessarily play horribly on offense; it was the Warriors ripping the nets wearing the team out from deep in the 120-114 loss.
Hostile is an excellent word to describe this matchup in a game where head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Cleveland’s bench dog Raul Neto both received technical fouls during the game. In the first quarter alone, the Jordan Poole-led Warriors were 7-of-9 from behind the arc on (77.8%) shooting.
Cleveland attempted only five threes, connecting twice at the end of the first. Both teams shot 50 percent from long range in the second quarter; Steve Kerr’s team drained seven to Bickerstaff’s Donovan Mitchell-less groups’ four. The Cavaliers did keep the three-point battle close in the second half with one less make than their opponents (eight to their nine), where both teams had 20 attempts in the final half.
The team from Cleveland had a better overall shooting percentage from the floor at 50 percent. The team who once battled the Cavaliers in four straight NBA Finals hit 48.8 percent. The Cavaliers also shot it better from the stripe than the team from the Bay, too. Both teams had 19 attempts, where the Cavs shot a letter B grade (84.2%) to the Warriors (68.4%).
With that said, here we’ll examine one stud and dud from this Cavs’ loss.
The Cavaliers overlooked this Warriors team by thinking it was all butter without former NBA champions reigning down on their parade, yet they had more hunger. When Golden State made 23 three-pointers, and you get outrebounded by 10, the odds aren’t going to be in your favor. Aside from Cleveland being without their soon-to-be 2023 All-Star Donovan Mitchell on Friday night, this is a game the Cavs should have won.
Discouraging, disappointing, and concerning are all words that could describe Friday night’s debacle. The way the Cavs played is different from the game you envisioned the Cavaliers having, where they now have to try and quickly bounce back against an Eastern Conference powerhouse, the Milwaukee Bucks. Let’s look at the Cavalier who carried his weight and another who had his worst game of the month coming off a hot streak.
Cavs Stud: Darius Garland
It’s hard to be uplifted when you lost a game you had an opportunity to take advantage of and failed to do so. Nevertheless, Darius Garland, now in his fourth year in the NBA, was in his bag throughout this contest other than struggling from the baritone range, where he went three-for-11.
Yes, 27.3 percent from beyond the arc is rough, but he kept the Cavs within reach twice in the second half when the Warriors wouldn’t miss in the third, shooting 60 percent.
With about 1:50 left in the third quarter, Garland nailed a three off of an Evan Mobley screen as he caught and shot a fadeaway bomb at the top right of the key to cut the lead to 13. Should it have been a four-point play? You tell me.
Around the 10-minute mark in the final quarter, the Warriors were up 15, coming off a hot third quarter. Garland used another Mobley screen for a step-back triple to keep the game from getting out of hand, trimming the Warriors lead to 12.
No look dimes to Jarrett Allen, putting rollerblades on defenders, attacking the cup, he was doing all he could to will the Cavs to a win. Hitting 10 out of his 25 total attempts, Garland ended the game with an overall field goal percentage of an even 47 percent.
He shot (100%), clutching 8-of-8 from the charity stripe as well. Finishing the night with 31 points, the Vanderbilt alum also led the team in assists (nine), just on the cusp of his 12th double-double of the season. It was one of the most frustrating losses of the season, but Darius did all he could, accounting for 56 total points.
Cavs Dud: Isaac Okoro goes quiet after hot streak
We would fool ourselves if we said we didn’t expect Isaac Okoro to cool off a bit. After an impressive five-game stretch, he led the team in a three-point percentage (64.3). Remember the overall (72.0) field goal percentage, too. Even the best in the league have off nights, so it was inevitable that this would occur while hoping he continues to rise.
Okoro made his 17th appearance as a starter this season in the Cavs’ return home. He clocked in 22 minutes, shooting 0-of-2 from deep and 2-for-5 at 40 percent from the field, finishing the contest with only four points, two rebounds, two assists, and one steal. No. 35 had the worst offensive (106.7) and defensive (137.5) rating among those who checked in the game, which led to Okoro having the lowest net rating (-30.8) of any Cavalier during the sickening loss.
The Okoro naysayers will eat this one up, and I can’t blame them. Isaac was off, a dud, one would say. He looked skittish and unnatural with the ball Friday, whereas of late, you’ve seen a confident ball player coming into his own, making plays left and right.
You can’t ask him to be a takeover at any moment player at this time. He’s not there, and who’s to say he ever reaches that height? So instead, you continue to instill confidence in him and allow him to contribute to the role he’s recently worked himself into. You plan to trade for another consistent piece to help down the stretch and let the kid keep growing.
The young Georgia native will be celebrating his 22nd birthday in Houston as the Cavaliers play the Rockets on Jan. 26 in what will be their second of another three-game road trip. Also, keep an eye on Mitchell’s game status, as the Cavs will face off against the Bucks tonight at 7:30 PM ET back in Cleveland. Beating the Bucks would fire this team up before packing their bags and hopping back on the road.