Whoever had the Cavs coming out the gate after a loss on the second leg of an away back-to-back against an undefeated home team going on a 18-4 run, please raise your hand. The Cavs came out buzzing, getting contributions from all their starters early and threw the first punch. The ball was hopping, shots were falling, and the best players were engaged.
Donovan Mitchell had 11 of the Cavs first 25 points, which they hit just midway through the first quarter. Tonight, we were blessed with good Mitchell. Slicing, dicing, being aggressive and the jump shot was pure. You can’t tell me that was the same player last night versus Orlando, as the player on the floor tonight versus Boston.
This game turned into a spot shooting contest. The teams combined to go 37-69 from deep, or 53.6%. Nearly half of each team’s point total could be accounted for from three-point range.
Any time Max Strus is hot from long range it’s a good night, and Strus finished with 5-11 shooting from 3. However, one noticeable part of his game has gone quiet recently: He only has 7 assists the last 3 games. He had games of 6, 5, 3, 7 and 5 assists the 5 previous games coming into tonight. Perhaps his chemistry with Evan Mobley being out hurt his assist totals a bit but it feels like when Strus is actively involved in the offense, other than just spotting up, it’s a different feel and rhythm.
Coming out up 14 points against one of the best home teams, and overall teams in the league, is likely not a sustainable pace. However, if there’s one thing about the Cavs this year it’s they relinquish leads quickly. The Cavs had a lead of 15 as late as 2 minutes left in the first quarter, yet the Celtics were within 4 by the 9 minute mark in the second quarter.
The Celtics 38-point 2Q was the second worse quarter of the year rivaling only the 42 point quarter allowed to the Kings almost a month to this day. They followed that up with their 6th worst defensive quarter of the year in the 3Q by allowing 35 points.
Part of what makes the Celtics so difficult to defend is how they space the floor. They’re legitimately five out all game long and it puts a ton of pressure on the defense, especially when you’re hitting at a 40% rate on the night. You have to be able to defend in space well enough that you’re not helping off shooters and creating clean looks.
The issue the Celtics really exposed is the Cavs lack of point of attack defense. We saw it when Isaac Okoro was out, and we really saw it tonight when Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum went up against Georges Niang, Dean Wade, Caris LeVert, and Isaac Okoro. You can add Mobley back in there but that’s simply not going to cut it come playoff time. The Cavs have a big wing problem (look no further than Paolo Banchero) and don’t have the defensive counter to it on the roster. You can throw those guys out there, and those guys will get there’s. But the Cavs don’t have the size/speed/strength combo to successfully combat those types all game long while also challenging them offensively. If there’s a trade deadline goal for Koby Altman, it’s finding that skill set.
What this game, and really the last few games really, brought to light is a foul problem for the Cavs. Part of playing good defense is not fouling. It’s not getting your players in foul trouble and limiting their minutes, and it’s not ending defensive possessions by giving your opponent’s easy conversion opportunities. The Celtics shot 26 free throw attempts tonight and made all of them. That’s not sustainable but this is the free throw total of Cavs opponents the last few games: 26, 25, 15, 37 (!), 23, 11, 24, 29, 21, 21, 34, 23. Notice a trend? On the year the Cavs are 21st in the league giving up 23.8 free throws per game.
If you look at the box score, you’ll see a lot of the stats are line-by-line the same except the free throw line. The Cavs went 6-9 on the night, while the Celtics were 26-26. If there was a difference in the game, it was at the free throw line.
Getting back to the game… the Celtics shot lights out and got to the free throw line to get them back in the game. What didn’t help the Cavs is their turnover problems. They were able to be cleaner with the ball in the second half, but the second quarter alone cost the Cavs 5 turnovers. They only had 2 the entire second half. Give good teams opportunities and it’ll catch up with you. In this case, it cost the Cavs their lead in the 2Q and they relinquished it in the 3Q.
For most of the game the Cavs were going toe-to-toe with the Celtics. As previously, it really became a contest of who could match 3-point looks. The Cavs were keeping pace with the Celtics for most of the game, and credit to the team for turning around a putrid shooting performance versus the Magic.
Where the Cavs really struggled was down the stretch in this one was offensively. They had their worst quarter offensively with only 21 points. If there’s one thing I would point to it's the lack of offensive movement in crunch time moments. The Cavs have good isolation players in Garland and Mitchell, and they excel in pick-and-roll situations. But when you come down with the same look over, and over again, especially against a team who can comfortably switch any of those actions, your success rate isn’t going to be too high. The crunch time offense put too much pressure on Garland and Mitchell to create a good look instead of movement helping them do that. Sure enough, they ran a set late that got Allen an easy layup.
Along with this point, the backside of the Cavs pick-and-roll is often stagnant. There’s little activity between players not operating within the pick-and-roll making the set more defendable. It doesn’t have to be movement every time but no movement every time makes it an easier set to defend.
If you want to point to another spot that likely cost the Cavs the game it’s bench play. JB Bickerstaff went nine deep however those four off the bench were a combined -45. That’s almost hard to do. LeVert coming back helped but the others didn’t contribute much.
73 minutes for your backcourt on the second night of a back-to-back when your other guard (LeVert) is likely on a minutes restriction being his first night back from a short injury stint is… interesting? Again, another opportunity where some CRAIG! minutes could have alleviated the backcourt burden and provided a different look for the team.
There’s a lot of negative notes within a recap where the cards were stacked against the Cavs and they responded with a solid performance. However at this point, they need more than good feeling losses. The up-and-down performance of these games and the nature of how they lose some of them makes it hard to feel good about any loss, even if it’s the second leg of an away back-to-back against the league’s best home team. The Cavs have the talent, they need to convert it more consistently.
Up next: A rematch with Boston on Thursday at 7:30PM (ET).
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