We keep having the conversations about taking singles and taking what’s available to us. I thought we got away from that. - JBB
The consensus after the game was the Cavs didn't protect the ball, didn't share the ball enough, and made too many poor decisions on shot selection.
"They make a run and instead of being in a position of trust, we try to do it all ourselves,” Bickerstaff said. “And that’s not who we are. That’s not the makeup of this team. This team at its best is a unit."
“We beat ourselves,” starting point guard Darius Garland said. “Take care of the ball, that’s it. When we take care of the ball, we’re a really good team.”
Force-feeding Drummond bogged them down -- even with him pouring in 25 points on 9-of-18 from the field. The Cavs aren’t a great isolation team and yet they fell into that trap too often, losing many of those individual battles. When guys drove into the paint, Bickerstaff wanted them to look for the simple play against a collapsing defense known for steals and blocks. Instead, guards got into tight spaces and made a mistake or forced a low-percentage shot. - Chris Fedor
“It doesn’t have to be complex. We don’t need to overthink it. The simple thing is to pass the ball to the open man,” Bickerstaff said.
During the Wolves decisive 10-2 run in the fourth quarter the Cavs had three shots blocked as they forced layups against a collapsing defense. They needed to kick the ball out to the perimeter and swing it around to the open 3-point shooter.
Let's see if anything changes tonight.