If the Cavs were a rollercoaster, it’s not one I’d want to ride. Going 6-2, then losing to a lowly Blazers team at home, and to being down 8 deep into the second half versus a team that didn’t win in the month of November, is quite the ride. They managed to squeak out a 9-point victory (bad teams stay bad) but it was anything but revitalizing.
The Pistons started out by pounding the paint, and challenging the Cavs inside the arc. While the Cavs are overall strong paint defensive team, they’ve been more susceptible to paint scoring to start games which goes against what you’d think would happen having Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley on the floor. In the 1st quarter of their last 15 games, the Cavs rank 22nd in points in the paint allowed. Similarly, they’re 22nd in defensive 1st quarter rating. As the game goes on, the Cavs paint defense does improve so does their defensive rating which is no coincidence.
FG% in the 1Q: Cavs at 40%, Pistons at 60%. FG% in the 1H: Cavs at 45%, Pistons at 43%. As the Cavs defense goes, so does the team's success. The Cavs are often able to tighten up their defensive efforts which shows itself in flipping the game around. This reflected itself in being down by 5 at the end of the 1Q but being up by 6 at half.
Once again, the Cavs were milking the pick-and-roll roll man early in a game (Allen had 10 early points); and once again they went away from it as the game went on. Allen was 8-9 for the game with a lot of his looks coming in the 1Q. For as well as this has worked early in games, it’s a wonder why they get away from it as the games go on.
Allen really kept them in the game when Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell were 2-10 with Garland having 0 1Q points. They both managed to turn it around, especially late in the game, but it’s back-to-back inefficient games for the backcourt, and a recent long stretch of them for Mitchell.
The Cavs really struggled to find their perimeter shot early, and it wasn’t just Mitchell and Garland. A struggling perimeter game and allowing teams to score inside is not a good recipe for success.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise the Cavs went on a 19-4 run in the 2Q when their perimeter game clicked enough (3 three-pointers in that stretch) along with only allowing 6 points in the first 6 minutes of the 2Q.
JB Bickerstaff sure looks like a coach coaching for his job. Running a 8-man rotation against the Blazers at home, and then pretty much a 7-man rotation against the Pistons is… something. With Caris LeVert out, Bickerstaff shrunk the rotation even further only giving CRAIG! Porter Jr 4 minutes with Tristan Thompson and Sam Merrill a quick 3 minute stretch in the 3Q. Understanding the Cavs were down rotational options (LeVert, Dean Wade and Ty Jerome), they still had guys (CRAIG! and Thompson) who could give them solid minutes.
Give Georges Niang credit for really attacking close outs. I’d be lying if I said I knew Niang had that part to his game but he’s been extra aggressive in getting downhill off closeouts. While the floaters early on were an adventure, he’s been effective at getting to the rim of late.
These are the types of games Isaac Okoro’s agent will point to in contract discussions. He was a +10 in the first half, and started a key run in the 4Q with 5 points and one charge taken. The Cavs really missed his point-of-attack defense -- he also tallied 4 steals. He finished with a +15, and had an overall strong all-around game (6 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 three-pointer).
Okoro really seemed to be in a good perimeter shooting rhythm prior to his injury. He was shooting 40% (6-15) in 6 games and had 2+ 3-point attempts in 4 of those. Okoro had a good stretch last year but increasing his volume was the key, which he seemed to being doing early on. Since coming back, he's been searching for that same rhythm (3-6 in 5 games) that he started the season with.
The Pistons came out hot to start the 2H with 10 straight points. If the Cavs wanted to not give the Pistons anything to feel good about, they didn’t do that starting the game or the second half.
That run lead to the Cavs being down 77-70 at one point in the 3Q....to the Pistons. Once again, their perimeter shots weren’t falling and the Pistons were in a good flow offensively.
To their credit, the Cavs responded. They went on a 22-5 run after being down 7 to push their lead 10. Max Strus played a large role in that getting hot from deep. Similar to the Hawks game, Strus getting hot is a recipe for overall team success.
Garland won’t likely be sending NBA refs any warm wishes this holiday season. Garland was priming for calls all game long and ended up with only three foul shots. Unfortunately, this directly impacted Garland for most of the game. He was caught trying to play the foul game rather than his game. Some of his shot attempts looked like they were more trying to get a foul called rather than trying to get a good shot. This seemed to take him out of other parts of the game as he was noticeably upset with the way fouls were being called all game.
The Cavs held the Pistons to another sub-20 in the 4Q which allowed them some breathing room to pull out a victory. Mitchell and Garland really came alive late in the 4Q to give the Cavs strong offensive possessions.
Credit to Niang and Okoro for strong minutes off the bench which they desperately needed being down bodies. They combined for 21 bench points, and each had a +15 plus-minus.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win. Their schedule doesn’t get any easier these next five games. If they want to turn things around, it’s going to have to happen pretty quickly.
Up next: The Cavs will have a few days off before taking on the Magic at home Wednesday at 7PM (ET).
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