Watched the second half this morning. No way to describe this game as anything but a huge win for the Cavs. With half their team out and going with a 7-player rotation they played the mighty Suns dead even for 48 minutes. Like Bickerstaff said, they ran out of gas. But until they did this group gave us a tantalizing glimpse of what the future could be - as soon as next season.
This was Okoro's coming out party. In a few months he's gone from an uncertain, tentative rookie who averaged 6.8 points and 2.7 rebounds in March to a confident, aggressive young swing man who put up 32 points and 6 assists with only one foul and one turnover in 47 minutes while being the primary defender against Devin Booker. He was huge at both ends.
In the final minute of regulation with the Cavs down by two JBB called a play for Okoro and he delivered the tying bucket with 25 seconds to go. One month ago there's no way he even gets the ball in that situation but now he's getting the play called for him with the game on the line.
His previous high was 20 points and he beat that by 12 last night. This is going to send his confidence skyrocketing. He's figuring out how to use his strengths to get buckets and draw shooting fouls. He also had a career best in free throw attempts with nine.
Heck, the Cavs could have lost by 30 in regulation but this still would have been a win just on Okoro's performance. Last in the NBA in scoring we need another scorer in the worst way. I'm not saying Isaac will average 25 a game next year, but he's no longer a guy who routinely gets 5 or 6 points with 1 or 2 rebounds and assists.
As Okoro's sun is rising, Kevin Love's is setting. Even with two days off it was obvious the game is moving too fast for him. He was 2-for-10 from the field and a non-factor on offense. We needed Dean Wade to step up and make a contribution but he did nothing. He missed an uncontested corner 3 in the 4th that he should make every time. Our two power forwards went 4-for-17 with 12 points in 65 minutes. With Nance out that position is our biggest problem by far.
Love had two plays where he had the ball right at the rim with a smaller man on him and missed the shot, then stood there with his hands apart begging for a foul while the Suns took off with the ball. The second time he had Chris Paul pinned under the rim and couldn't score. He and Allen need to get better at powering the ball up without getting stripped when they have the size advantage at the rim.
Sexton had 29/7/7 but committed five turnovers, which is not that bad in 39 minutes but we needed better. He telegraphed some passes that were easily picked off and turned into easy layups.
Allen and Ayton had a nice matchup with Allen playing dead even against the former #1 overall pick. Allen's line was 17/8/5 with one block while Ayton was 15/9/1 with 5 blocks in the same number of minutes. Both were 7-for-11 from the field.
The Cavs once again failed to close out a quarter - twice this time. At the end of the first quarter they were outscored 7-0 in the last 1:01. At the end of the second quarter they were outscored 8-2 in the last 54 seconds. That's 15-2 in favor of the Suns in the final minute of the first and second quarter. It's getting to when we get to the two-minute mark I'm holding my breath, expecting a total implosion. The Cavs need to be more aware of their propensity to let opponents go on a scoring burst in the final minute or two and focus better.
Finally, kudos to Chris Paul, who turns 36 years old tomorrow. 23 points, 16 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocks. Just an amazing performance by a guy who is 3.5 years older than Kevin Love. He really schooled Sexton a number of times, but what a great learning experience.
Imagine the team that played the Suns even after 48 minutes last night plus Garland, Nance, Hartenstein, Prince, and a top five draft pick. That's what we have to look forward to next year.
