The Cavs return home for a rematch with the Timberwolves after a close loss in Minnesota on Thursday. The Cavs did a pretty good job offensively, scoring 122 points against a defense that averages 114. But defensively the Cavs could not contain the league’s 5th best offense. The Wolves average 120 ppg and scored 131 against the Cavs.
The foursome of Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, Jaden McDaniels, and Anthony DiVincenzo combined for 101 of the Wolves’ 131 points. They all scored between 22 and 28 points.
Edwards and Randle are listed as questionable for this game with foot maintenance for Edwards and a sore thumb for Randle. If those two or even one of them is out it would significantly help the Cavs’ chances, on paper at least. Mike Conley is out.
The T-Wolves started the game on a 17-5 run and finished with season highs in field goal percentage (57%) and 3-point percentage (53%). Their 43 points in the 3rd quarter matched their season high. Whatever the Cavs were doing defensively obviously wasn’t working.
Craig Porter, Jr got a rare start as Atkinson decided to go with a three-guard lineup. Big mistake. Porter was a -17 in 15 minutes. The starting lineup of Garland, Mitchell, Porter, Mobley, and Allen was a jaw dropping -29 in just under 14 minutes with a defensive rating of 184.2.
I’m positive Kenny will not go with that lineup again. Jarrett Allen was on Gobert and Mobley guarded Randle, which meant one of our small guards had to take 6’9” Jaden McDaniels. Not surprisingly, McDaniels was 11-for-14 for 26 points. He averages 14. I have no idea what Kenny was thinking.
Post-game Kenny said the Cavs were “probably not as proactive as we should have been on defense.” I think it was more a matter of having three small guards on the floor against a front line that goes 7’1”, 6’9” and 6’9”.
The other big problem besides poor defense was letting the Wolves go on 17-5 and 26-8 runs to start the 1st and 3rd quarters, but that was directly related to the starting lineup being an awful matchup with the Wolves’ starters. The Cavs recovered from the bad start in the 1st quarter to take the lead at halftime but were blown out in the 3rd.
Minnesota outscored the Cavs 43-22 in a stretch that has become all too familiar this season, a single quarter undoing everything that came before it. - cleveland.com podcast
Have to be better…and not let mistakes compound…We let seven minutes change the course of the game and against teams like this, just can’t have that. - Donovan Mitchell
It consistently feels like this team is trying to find out who it is and which lineups work. There are too many questions either on the court or behind the scenes that have not been answered and continue to make things difficult. - Ethan Sands
The starting lineup in Minnesota was the 21st of the season in 39 games. With Dean Wade out Kenny decided to see what would happen with CPJ in the starting lineup, but he clearly picked the wrong opponent to try it out against.
Despite the loss there were some good stretches of play. After getting behind 17-5 the Cavs went on a 40-20 run to take a 45-37 lead in the second quarter.
They were flawless offensively in the second quarter, generating quality looks every time down the court. It was a balanced approach, feeding the bigs and moving the ball with purpose. Jarrett Allen was featured prominently and that might be the greatest sign that the team is operating at full force. Donovan Mitchell had his best playmaking half of the year.- apple.news
The Cavs scored 67 points in the first half against a top 10 defense which was very impressive. Unfortunately Allen disappeared in the second half (2 points, 1 rebound) and the Cavs were held to 55 points.
This time the Cavs are at home and I assume Kenny will not start a three-guard lineup with CPJ (180 pounds) guarding Anthony Edwards (225) and either Garland or Mitchell (6'1") on 6’9” Jaden McDaniels. Dean Wade is still out so we might see more of Nae’Qwon Tomlin or even Larry Nance, Jr.
De’Andre Hunter had a good game in Minnesota with a +12 in 27 minutes. Hunter had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals, so we could see more of him. Against this team we need his size and physicality. Tomlin was a +5 in 8 minutes.
I expected to see Thomas Bryant get some minutes to try and pull Gobert away from the paint with 3-point shooting but Bryant was a DNP-CD for the second straight game. In his last game against Detroit Bryant played 15 minutes with 7 points, 4 rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a block, so I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten any minutes the last two games.
With the home court advantage and hopefully better personnel decisions by Kenny the Cavs could take this one. They could have won Thursday if not for an unfortunate starting lineup and an unusually hot shooting night by the Wolves. If Edwards and/or Randle are out so much the better.
Kenny said the Cavs need to be more “proactive” on defense. They allowed the Wolves to get too many open looks on 3’s and the result was the best shooting game of the year by Minnesota. I thought the Cavs once again fell into the trap of helping too much on defense which left shooters open on the perimeter.
The Wolves were setting screens at the 3-point line with their bigs; Rudy, Randle, and Naz Reid. These guys are wide bodies and tough to get around but the Cavs need to be better at contesting 3’s and not allowing a 53% success rate this time. The Cavs were drifting too far off the Wolves’ 3-point shooters and allowing themselves to be screened which resulted in easy catch-and-shoots.
Garland was a -24 in 37 minutes despite scoring 16 points with 8 assists. He was a huge defensive liability and the Cavs need to find a way to mitigate that. Gobert was screening him at the 3-point line to free up DiVincenzo for open catch-and-shoots.
Injury Report
CLEVELAND
Dean Wade - OUT (knee)
Max Strus - OUT (foot)
MINNESOTA
Terrence Shannon Jr - OUT (abductor)
Mike Conley Jr - OUT (rest)
Julius Randle - QUESTIONABLE (thumb)
Anthony Edwards - QUESTIONABLE (injury management)