The Cavs have a competition problem of late. For as much as they’ve played up to the competition with wins against Boston, Minnesota, and Dallas, they’ve also played down with losses to Chicago, Atlanta and Brooklyn. Good teams are consistent, and the Cavs are not consistent right now.
Sometimes teams have hot nights, it happens. The Nets made five three-pointers in the first half, and then proceeded to go 13-22 in the second half and score 44 third quarter points. Yes, these Nets… 44 points… on the second night of a back-to-back.
Up to the third quarter the Cavs had pulled ahead but they trailed for most of the game up until that point. There were injuries, but if they can beat Minnesota at home with these injuries, they can beat Brooklyn.
How was it one of those nights? Dennis Schroder hit a 9-1-1 three from the coach’s box to bail out a bad Brooklyn possession. Cam Thomas had a four-point play by a three-pointer touch every part of the rim and backboard before rolling in. He also put in a buzzer beating three at the end of the third quarter. Yeah.
The game started out not so well for the Cavs. Darius Garland had back-to-back turnovers in the first two offensive possessions and the Cavs scored six points in the first five minutes.
Garland turned the ball over after trying to Nash it along the baseline. How many times he gets these turnovers after getting one every other game is beyond comprehension.
The problem with a lot of Garland’s turnovers is they’re avoidable. Bad passes, tipped passes and good defensive plays happen. But Garland’s turnovers are usually none of those and too often self-inflicted.
One good thing we saw with Garland: Two of his early three-pointers were with off-ball action. More off ball action with Garland moving the better. It not only benefits him but it benefits others.
You give a bad team chances, and the game is going to be closer than it should be. The Cavs had seven personal fouls which led to 11 first quarter free throw attempts. The Cavs allowed four offensive rebounds, committed five turnovers and the Nets scored six points off those turnovers.
16 of the Nets 29 first quarter points were at the free-throw line and three-point line. They were only 5-14 on two-pointers.
Seven different Cavaliers scored in the first quarter, but it wouldn’t be enough to outpace the Nets.
What’s with Jarrett Allen missing dunks of late? He missed another easy dunk which is one of many within the last few weeks.
Allen was mostly a non-factor for most of the game. He had four points, three field goal attempts through the first 18 minutes and finished with seven points on five field goal attempts at half.
To Allen’s credit, he was a +8 at half time but the battle with Nic Claxton was a chippy one as Claxton outpaced Allen by points and rebounds at halftime.
The Cavs were struggling to defend Claxton as a roller in the Nets pick-and-roll. Claxton was consistently getting free releases off the roll, and the rotation to help Allen was never there.
Speaking of which, Georges Niang and Claxton got into a scuffle. After Niang pushed Claxton into Mikal Bridges, Claxton didn’t take likely to it. These two teams are no stranger to scuffles, particularly Claxton.
Niang had another strong half of play and was not only the Cavs leading scorer at half time but the game’s leading scorer. He had 14 points and was 3-5 from three-point range at half.
The Cavs started the second quarter much like they started the first quarter. Six points in the first five minutes and three turnovers. Just ugly basketball.
In three second quarter minutes, CRAIG! was a -4. It was more than CRAIG! but it’s the type of things a veteran coach will hone in on as JB Bickerstaff does. Garland was quickly summoned back in as the Cavs were down six.
But then Niang happened. He put in 11 points within the last five minutes of the quarter and was part of a 15-6 run to get the Cavs within one at half time.
The Cavs had a chance to lead with an Allen hook shot at the buzzer, but they were unable to convert. It capped a first half where the Cavs never led.
The Cavs depth may have hit a wall tonight. Sam Merrill, Damian Jones, Isaiah Mobley, who got some early minutes, and CRAIG! Porter Jr were a -8, -9, -4 and -4 respectively. The Cavs needed more production out of the bench, and it didn’t quite happen.
The Cavs took a quick lead after half but that was about the only good thing for the Cavs in the quarter.
The Nets start of the third quarter should have been an omen. They hit three three-pointers in the first four minutes, and then proceeded to hit another five in the following eight minutes. It included a 40’ and 36’ made three-pointers.
After the Cavs pulled even despite an early barrage, the Nets outscored the Cavs 26-13 the rest of the quarter. Within that stretch was three straight turnovers, two of which were coughed up by CRAIG!
The Cavs were trying to get something going but never could. A fine example of this is an Isaac Okoro block followed by a missed CRAIG! layup culminating in a Cam Thomas 36’ three-point shot to beat the buzzer.
It capped a 44-point third quarter for these Nets. 44 points. They shot 70% FG, 80% 3P. The Nets simply could not miss, and the Cavs could do nothing but watch.
The fourth quarter isn’t even worth covering. It was a run of G-Leaguers for the Cavs as CRAIG!, Mobley and Emoni Bates played every minute while Merrill and Jones played most of it. Allen is the only starter to play fourth quarter minutes and he was a -6 in his time.
Despite Allen and Garland combining for only 29 points, the Cavs were good enough offensively, despite their rough quarter starts, to pull this out had their defense played good enough.
Merrill is in a slump. He had a 1-7 night and is just searching for his shot right now. He’s shooting 29.5% from deep over his last 10 games with his 7-13 performance against New York really saving that from it being even worse. He is also a -42 over that span.
LeVert got the start and had seven assists but is in a mini slump of his own. He’s shooting 33.3 FG% and 31.6 3P% over four March games. Cavs need more in these non-Mitchell games.
Cavs will need to flush this game as they turn around quickly to face Phoenix followed three straight road games, and five road games in their next seven.
Up next: Cavs stay home to face Phoenix Monday night at 7:30PM (ET).
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