Great effort and despite missing four key players in Allen, Nance, Sexton, and Garland the undermanned Cavs took the Pelicans down to the final two minutes. In the end it was too much Zion (38 pts, 9 rebs, 4 assists on 16-for-22 from the field) and Ingram (27 pts, 8 assists). The two Pelican stars combined for 65 points and 17 assists. The Cavs could not stop them at crunch time.
The last time these teams played the Cavs scored 82 and tonight they surpassed that by 27 points despite not having their top four scorers. Wade had a career game with 21 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. It was great to see him hit five 3's because he's been in a shooting slump.
Okoro had a career high 19 points. His shooting stroke is looking much better. Okoro is shooting 60.6% from the field and 58.3% on 3's in six March games. He's also made 11 of his last 13 free throws. His offensive game is coming around.
Cedi looked better as a point guard than he did as a small forward. He had 15 points and 7 assists while going 7-for-11 from the field. However, his 3-point shot has abandoned him as he's made only 2 of his last 21.
Hartenstein fouled out in 22 minutes. In his last seven games he fouled out once and played with five fouls three times. He really needs to work on moving his feet and not fouling while setting a screen. He also had four turnovers.
The Cavs had a great chance to steal a win against a superior opponent but they needed to hit a few more 3's. Love missed nine 3's. Delly, Prince, Kabendele, and Cedi went 1-for-14 from deep. The Cavs scored a season high 68 points in the first half but could only muster 41 in the second.
In the end the Cavs were much more competitive against the Pelis than they were three weeks ago when the game was over early in the third quarter. Too bad they couldn't have figured out a way to contain Zion or hit a few more 3's.
So now they have two days off and we'll see if Sexton, Garland, Allen, and Nance rejoin the team for Wednesday's game.