Like I said in the preview, this was a scheduled loss. The Cavs had a great first quarter, winning 31-24, then ran out of gas. At one point the Suns hit 21-of-30 shots while the Cavs made 5-of-23.
Allen had 4 points, Mobley 2. These guys were exhausted from heavy minutes and a lot of banging inside while playing their 3rd game in four days. The Cavs starting front line combined for 17 points despite a huge height advantage with the Suns starting two 6'6" forwards.
Garland and Sexton combined for 12 turnovers as the Suns constantly poked the ball away or stripped them in the paint. Rubio was 3-for-15. The fatigue really showed after the first quarter. Sexton only got 19 minutes; he may be banged up.
The Cavs continue to get educated by future HOF'ers. Friday night it was LeBron and Carmelo, last night it was Chris Paul. At age 36 he played 37 minutes with 16 points, 10 assists, and 4 steals while committing only two turnovers. He was far and away the best guard on the floor.
Corey Booker put on a demonstration of what the Cavs need to contend - a 6'5" to 6-8" wing who can get on a roll and score from deep and still has the size to finish at the rim. The Cavs have players who can penetrate but aren't tall enough to finish consistently. They have tall players who don't have the quickness and ball skills to penetrate (Mobley, Allen, Love, Markkanen). They don't have any wings who can hit 3's and also drive and elevate for layups. They have no one who can score on all three levels and take over a game when shots aren't falling.
Booker had 27 points and 9 assists.
This wasn't a bad loss, losing by 9 points to a team that went to the Western Finals last year, especially considering the Suns have only played one game since last Saturday.
Cedi Osman, who only played 4 minutes in the last two games, had fresh legs and was 6-for-12 on 3's. Lauri was 2-for-4. Everybody else was 6-for-28. Tired legs.
The Suns ran the high 1-5 pick and roll to death and the Cavs had no answer. It was Paul and Aybar over and over. The Cavs strategy was to have their big sag back to prevent the lob/dunk while Garland, Sexton, or Rubio trailed Paul around the screen and followed him down the lane. That's not going to work against a guy with over 10,000 assists.
Still, holding the Suns to 101 points on the road was a solid defensive effort. They forced Paul and Booker to play 37 and 35 minutes. The Cavs just couldn't get their shots to fall and the Suns did a good job of packing the paint and stripping the ball while preventing lobs to Allen and Mobley.
The Cavs only shot 39.6% and 31.8%. Tired legs.
JBB gave Cedi a shot as the small forward off the bench after Stevens went 1-for-7 last night. Cedi responded with 20 points. Nobody else had more than 11.
Dean Wade was matched up against Booker in the 4th on one possession and Booker tried to go by him twice but was cut off. Then he pump faked and that didn't work. He was forced to pass and got a 24-second violation. Great one-on-one defense by Wade against one of the best offensive wings in the league. I've seen him do that last year as well. He plays excellent fundamental defense, moving his feet very well for a 6''9" power forward.
I'm thinking Wade deserves more minutes. Love is shooting 35.5% from the field and 20.8% on 3's after seven games. He doesn't give you much on defense, so if his shots aren't falling he's not much of an asset. I wonder how long JBB will stick with Love if his shooting doesn't improve.
Nice to see Windler get 16 minutes. He's active and had 8 points and 4 rebounds, including two offensive, but he needs to hit those open 3's.
