Tremendous game by the Cavs but the little things killed them. Like only making 14 of 21 free throws. Like Mobley stepping on the baseline after getting a rebound or Garland getting called for a travel on an inbound pass. Or a 5-second violation in the final minute.
The Cavs have to be the worst I've ever seen at inbounding the ball, especially from under their own basket. They screwed up two of them tonight.
Garland tried to play hero at the end as usual. First he missed a contested 3-pointer, then he got a layup attempt blocked out of bounds (setting up the 5-second violation) and then he got the final shot blocked going one-on-one. With the Cavs down by one point we didn't need him forcing up a 3-pointer against a 6'7" guy. We needed dribble penetration with a pass to a big.
But overall it was a tremendous game by Mobley (18/15/3 with 2 blocks and stellar defense), LeVert (23/4/6), and Okoro (17 points on 6 shots and 4-for-4 on 3's). Garland had a nice final line (24/5/14) but he tried to do it all himself on the last couple of possessions and came up empty, going 0-for-3.
Love and Osman once again gave us nothing. Wade can't get back fast enough. Love's thumb is clearly not OK as he went 1-for-5 from deep, all uncontested. He also missed an uncontested baseline 12-footer.
Santi Aldama came off the bench to score 16 points in 20 minutes - double his average. The 6'11" second year player hit 4-for-6 from deep and 6-for-8 overall. I thought he was the difference. He and Bane combined to go 9-for-14 on 3's, the rest of the team was 2-for-20.
The other thing that lost the game was allowing Memphis to go on a 20-0 run in the second quarter. It featured four turnovers by the Cavs and two missed free throws by Allen. I knew at the time that giving up a 20-0 run would cost them a win, and it did.
Almost stole a win on the road against the #2 ranked team and easily could have but for bad free throw shooting and three inexcusable turnovers.
