An uneven game led to an uneven result. The Cavs led after all three quarters but only outscored the Lakers in the first quarter. It never really felt like the Cavs had control at any one particular point in the game and they ended up falling victim to poor execution down the stretch which is a flashback to some games from last year.
The big news tonight was getting Donovan Mitchell and Isaac Okoro back in the lineup to make it as close to a full team (minus Dean Wade and Ty Jerome) as they’ve had in a while. Of course prosperity could never last long for a Cavaliers team as Darius Garland went down after a drive in the 2nd quarter and did not return. He was diagnosed with a neck strain and we’ll see how much time he’ll end up missing. With a quick turnaround tomorrow it might be a safe bet he sits out and looks to Tuesday against the Hawks.
The Cavs uneven starts have been a story of the year. It was 7-0, 14-6, and 18-10 Lakers for much of the first quarter. The Lakers got on the Cavs early by pushing off of misses, and sloppy Cavs play. The Cavs had five early turnovers and looked like a starting lineup only playing its second official game together.
One thing that’s noticeable early on is teams are pushing on the Cavs at every opportunity they get. Cavs are 21st in fast break points allowing 15 points per game. All around the Cavs are just slow in getting back and always seemingly end up in a numbers disadvantage against with offensive players turn defenders lagging behind.
The team, well Donovan, responded well halfway through the first quarter with a spurt of their own. Mitchell poured in 8 straight points and 11 of 13 as the Cavs were able to pull ahead in a few short minutes and were on their way to their highest scoring quarter of the year with 40.
The Cavs were able to take advantage of the non-LeBron minutes early on with a +9 while LeBron was off the court. However, that changed in the 2nd half with the Cavs being a -7 while LeBron was off the court. With a short-handed Lakers team, the time to beat them was in non-LeBron minutes and their inability to capitalize hurt them. The second half -7 looms large as the Cavs lost by 6.
The end result may not have shown it but Isaac Okoro was a welcomed sight back. While he may not have contributed much offensively (5 points on three shot attempts, and one free throw attempt), he was tied for a team-high +7. The Cavs desperately missed his point of attack defense. While Okoro wasn’t on the court defending LeBron, Mobley was often assigned the task.
It looks like JB Bickerstaff wasn’t joking when he said CRAIG! Porter Jr. has earned a more permanent spot in the rotation. JBB went with a two-point guard look with CRAIG! and Garland in the 2nd quarter, trying to replicate the magic they had with Ricky Rubio and Garland last year. The Cavs played the Lakers about even with that pairing for six minutes until Garland went out with an injury.
CRAIG! punctuated his new role with a dazzling step-back three. He’s now scored in double digits in five straight games is averaging 14.4 points, 3.8 assists, 2.6 rebounds, on 59.5% shooting including 3-6 from three in 24 minutes per contest. Ty Jerome may not have a role whenever he returns from his ankle injury with play like that.
The two point guard pairing, along with Garland being out, shifted to Bickerstaff in using LeVert and Mitchell in the backcourt together. The Lakers were +4 to finish the 1st half in those minutes. Understanding the limitations, Bickerstaff was under, those two players are likely too stylistically similar to play consistent minutes next to each other. I say that with the Mitchell-LeVert pairing has produced a +10.5 net rating this year and a +5.9 net rating last year. So, the pairing can work, it just feels a bit too stagnant and isolation heavy without a point guard to help break up and take control of some possessions.
Mitchell was getting downhill early and often throughout the game. He struggled from the field (4-18) but got to the free-throw line 13 times, and caused Laked defenders to rack up quite a few fouls. The foul drawing ability and pressure in getting downhill is something they missed while he was out.
The Lakers shot 60% in the 1st half and ended up at 52% from the field for the game. The Cavs did limit the Lakers to only 9 made three-pointers, but they made up for that being +8 in points in the paint and getting to the free throw line (18-21).
Just too often throughout the game the ease of some of the Lakers looks was a disheartening for a ‘defense-first’ led team under Bickerstaff. The Cavs are a middle of the pack defensive team (15th with a 113.1 defensive rating), and it shows. Teams are getting quality looks breaking down the Cavaliers defense. The initial help is often there but the help the helper is often a step slow or simply not there. In their most recent two losses, the Lakers and Heat shot 52% from the field. In their previous four wins, teams shot 42%.
Allen and Mobley played well up front combining for 39 points (17-24 from the field), 20 rebounds, 9 assists, 7 steals (!) and 3 blocks. Outside the clunker against the Heat, Allen has been playing good basketball recently going up against Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and now Anthony Davis.
It may sound cliché but the Cavs lost this game in the 4th quarter. They were a -7 and only mustered up 21 points. The 4th quarter was filled with too many empty or difficult offensive possessions. There was a time where they scored 9 points in 9 minutes. They also did not score for 3:30 minutes and went from being down 1 to being down 8.
The Lakers were not necessarily laying it on them in the 4th quarter. The Lakers finished with 18 turnovers of their own and didn't pull away until late despite the Cavs offensive ineptitude. But in the end, the Cavs simply couldn’t get out of their way own and dug themselves too much of a hole.
To make matters worse on top of the lose and losing Garland early, it appeared Mitchell’s hamstring may have been aggravated late in the game. We’ll see if it was just cramping or something more serious but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Mitchell miss the second night of a back to back.
The Cavs got 6 combined three-pointers from Max Strus and Georges Niang tonight. They’ve now both had 2+ three-pointers in each of the last four games.
It's 16 games in, so still early-ish, but their record is the record. 8-8 is about right for this team with all their ups-and-downs, injuries, inconsistencies, etc. At some point they're going to have to put together a good stretch of basketball to really get back to where they want to be, and hopefully it's soon as they return to full health.
Next up: The Cavs will take on the Toronto Raptors on the second night of a home back-to-back Sunday at 7:30PM (ET).
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