The Cavaliers finish off a three-game road trip in San Antonio against the 23-8 Spurs. The Spurs had won 15 of 19 before a hiccup against Utah on Saturday, losing 127-114 without starting PG De’Aaron Fox. Both the Cavs and Spurs had Sunday off.
The Spurs are on a roll, beating OKC three times in the last two weeks and making folks wonder if they could make it to the Finals this year. In the last two weeks the Spurs are 1st in the NBA in point differential and offensive efficiency and 2nd in defensive efficiency. This game will be a bear.
The Cavs beat the Spurs in Cleveland on Dec. 5 with both teams having depleted lineups. The Cavs were missing Garland, Allen, and Merrill while the Spurs were missing Wembanyama, Castle, and Kornet. All of those players will be ready to go Monday so both teams should be stronger.
The Cavs are coming off a game where they were beat up by the Rockets, with Kenny admitting his team was not ready to compete. Donovan Mitchell agreed.
“We’ve got to love the challenge, we’ve got to embrace the challenge,” Mitchell said. “If we’re not then [what happened] tonight will happen again.”
They manhandled us physically and I didn't like our response...they pushed us around and we didn't fight back. - Kenny Atkinson
The Cavs better be ready to “embrace the challenge” or they will be blown out like they were in Houston, where they were down 31 points. By saying, “We didn’t fight back,” Kenny is calling out his team. He said they just gave up. He said they were soft. They rolled over and took their whupping.
How will the Cavs respond? Will they come out with their hair on fire or will they tune Kenny out?
The Spurs are 11-3 at home. The Cavs have lost 5 of their last 7 games. It doesn’t look good.
San Antonio is nicely balanced, ranking 7th in scoring and 10th in scoring defense. They are 8th in offensive rebound percentage so you need to get everybody on the defensive glass. They are second best in opponents’ fast break points per game so you might as well forget transition and get the rebound.
They are 4th in 2-point shooting percentage and 14th on 3’s so defend the layup and the mid-range shot first. The Spurs rank 7th in shot attempts at the rim so the key is to defend the paint and make them take longer shots.
Defensively the Spurs are conservative, ranking 20th in steals and 24th in forcing turnovers. They are 1st in defensive rebounding percentage so they are content to not gamble for steals or try to force a lot of turnovers. They maintain position, contest the shot, and get the rebound. Wemby averages 3.0 blocks per game; the rest of the Spurs average 1.8 combined. When Wemby is down - attack the rim.
The Spurs defend the 2-point shot better than the 3, so this is a team you probably want to shoot 3’s against, especially when Wemby is lurking. They rarely let you get to the line (4th fewest opponent free throw attempts per game) and nobody gets a higher percentage of defensive boards, so you pretty much have to make your first shot to score.
Their one defensive weakness is the mid-range shot; they’re only 23rd in defending it. They’re better at defending 3’s (15th) and at the rim (7th). This might be a good game for floaters and pull-up jumpers from the elbow.
De’Aaron Fox is listed as questionable. He missed the loss to Utah on Saturday. Fox averages 22 points and 6 assists. The backup is rookie Dylan Harper, the #2 overall pick this year. Harper is averaging 12 points and 4 assists in 21 minutes.
Wemby has a line of 23/12/4 in 30 minutes. Stephon Castle (19/5/7), Devin Vassell (15/4/2), and Harrison Barnes (13/3/2) are the other starters. Keldon Johnson averages 13 points off the bench, Harper 12, and Julian Champagie 10.
The Spurs are outscoring opponents by 13.6 points per 100 possessions when Wemby is on the floor. That’s best on the Spurs by a mile; Devin Vassell is next at 5.4. Victor ranks 9th in on/off among NBA players who average more than 25 minutes per game. Wemby averages 30 minutes per game so the key is to play them close to even when he’s on the floor and kick butt in the 18 minutes when he’s down.
The Spurs are killing it right now except for that weird home loss to Utah on Saturday. Maybe Fox being out was a big deal. In any event, the key for the Cavs is their mentality and their willingness to compete to the max. Their coach basically called them pussies, saying “They pushed us around and we didn’t fight back.” It was a public challenge to their manhood.
We’ll see if they’re up to giving the Spurs a battle or not.
Injury Report
CLEVELAND
Larry Nance Jr - OUT (calf)
Max Strus - OUT (foot)
SAN ANTONIO
De'Aaron Fox - QUESTIONABLE (adductor)