RCF Recap: Cavs get Clipped

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• Sigh.
• Just when you thought the Cavs had finally gotten it together. Finally. They have one of their highest scoring quarters on the year (twice!), score the most points in a half all year (and one off the franchise record) and are taking it to a good Clippers team at home on the second leg of a back-to-back. All is well. Until it’s not.
• It’s not well. If there were any nails left to close the hatch on JB Bickerstaff’s return to Cleveland this might have been it. He was already hanging by a thread, and it seems like this loss just snapped it. Barring a miraculous Miami Heat like playoff run, there’s no justifying him returning next year. None.
• @wuck said it best: The Cavs replayed their entire season in one game.
• Yeah, the Cavs started well. You couldn’t tell they were coming off a bad loss and were on the second leg of a back-to-back. The ball, and player movement was crisp. So much so they went on a 12-4 run.
• Stop if you heard this before: The Cavs were running the pick-and-roll effectively to begin the game. Their bigs were getting involved and their guards were able to get downhill.
• Darius Garland was making some nice reads off pick-and-rolls and movement early. The flair and decisiveness were noticeable.
• When you talk about progress, it’s not always evident in the box score. Take two possessions in the first quarter with Evan Mobley as an example. It reads Zubac 6’ hook shot, and Mobley 6’ floating jump shot. Fine. But it misses out on the type of steps fans have been waiting to see. Before the Zubac missed jump shot, Mobley was able to absorb contact by Zubac, and be a deterrent to the hook shot causing the miss. Then on the other end, Mobley initiated contact and finished through Zubac. These are the plays you want to see.
• Following up from last game, the Cavs were putting consistent pressure on the rim to the tune of nine first quarter free-throws. They were doing a good job of getting downhill and making the Clippers make some decisions.
• The Cavs were hot as a team in the quarter, but Max Strus was en fuego late. Strus hit two consecutive three-pointers, with a steal in between. He then forced three free-throws on a shot right before quarter’s end. This was on top of four first quarter assists.
• The Cavs led after one, however the Clippers still shot 63.2% from the field. But six first quarter turnovers will cause you to not have a lead even with that.
• The Clippers did come out with a little 6-0 run to start the second quarter. The Cavs quickly responded back with a 10-0 run of their own and pushed the lead back to double digits.
• This was one of the more Darius Garland of old games he’s had in recent memory. He caught fire a bit with 12 second quarter points and had three steals in the quarter. The bounce, and confidence seemed to be creeping back into his game. He was even finishing around the rim, and more comfortable navigating the paint then in previous games.

• One of the noticeable things in the Cavs early offensive success was their pace and consistency in getting north south. When they get in slumps the pace slows, or is choppy, and they are going horizontal too much. In the first half, the Cavs were getting inside often and playing off that penetration.
• Another Mobley progression: Grabbing a rebound, going coast to coast, and again initiating contact from Zubac and finishing for two. This is the skillset he was drafted on.
• The defense was still a bit shaky, but they were at least giving good effort defensively. Even if the initial ball-handler was breaking down the defense, they were running good scramble drills and forcing the Clippers into contested shots.
• The Cavs were able to push their lead all the way to 20 points in the second quarter. Thanks in part to another 40-point offensive quarter.
• A big part of the Cavs first half success was winning the three-point battle. They went 50% from deep and made nine three-pointers. The Clippers did make six, but when the Cavs are able to convert from deep, as we’ve seen before, they’re usually playing their best basketball.
• Playing off that, when they’re taking care of the basketball, it usually means good things. The Cavs only had four first half turnovers, and Garland only had one of them.
• Oh, and shoutout JA for protecting the rim.

• The second half hit, and you would have thought the clock struck midnight. What once was looking like a beautiful Cavaliers victory devolved into an utter, ugly mess.
• Case in point: The Cavs scored 38 points in the second half. They scored more points in either quarter in the first half. They went cold, and cold in the worst way.
• They shot 32.5% -- they only made 13 field goals the entire half. Only two of them were three-pointers. Luckily, they made 10 free-throws or else it could have been a lot worse.
• The Clippers were just feasting off the small things, things the Cavs don’t always do well. They were a +6 in second chance points, and +8 in points off turnovers in the second half. Those things add up to a comeback.
• Allen and Garland were the only Cavaliers in double figures in the second half. Otherwise, no other Cavalier had more than four points. Mobley, LeVert, and Strus combined to go 2-for-18 in the half.
• The Cavs scored 12 points in the first six minutes of the third quarter – not terrible, but on pace for a halfway decent quarter. They were still up 16.
• The tides turned, and they turned quickly. In the second half of the quarter, the Clippers went on a 18-4 run. The Cavs did not make a field goal for a full six minutes. Their only makes were free-throws.
• And again, this gets back to something I’ve harped on for several games now: Part of your job as a point guard is to control that game. Sometimes it means passing, other times it means scoring, other times it means managing the game. The avalanche type runs happen too often for my liking when Garland is in charge. Good shots or not, you must find a way to make a difference and stop these types of runs.
• The Clippers cooled off a bit in the fourth quarter (47.6% FG) but their five three-pointers were all daggers. Two came in back-to-back possessions late – one to tie, and one to take the lead.
• Speaking of which: The Clippers led for 41 seconds the entire game.
• The Clippers came out to start the fourth quarter blitzing the Cavs to the tune of a 11-0 run. This brought the Clippers to within three.
• The fourth was really all about Paul George. He had a game high 39 points with 23 points coming in the fourth quarter. You talk about missing Dean Wade and this a prime example right here. George had runs of 8 and 11 straight in the quarter. He lived at the free-throw line with nine attempts alone in the quarter.
• Something I just can’t get over: Bickerstaff urges his team to play with place all game and then when it gets to crunch time, the team is like a tortoise in a race. They walk the ball up, milk time off the clock, and get into sets with only one option. What sense does that make?
• The Clippers have some good perimeter defenders on their team. Why does it make sense to go 1-4 flat pick-and-roll or isolation against that?
• The Cavs managed to hang onto the lead long enough in the quarter where you thought they maybe would still pull it out. They were even up seven points just under the 3-minute mark.
• Garland had a costly turnover late, one of three in the quarter, but was pretty much the only Cavalier able to do anything offensively. He had nine points; three assists and it was good to see him hit some shots when it mattered.

• The Clippers finally climbed all the way back after a scrambling defensive possession led to a Terrance Mann three. Coming out of a timeout, the Cavs ended up with… a Caris LeVert step back three-pointer. Yep.
• Fast forward to another three-point make for the Clippers, and a huge George step back jumper, and the Cavs end up with a ball out of bounds after a blocked Garland shot attempt at the rim. So, Bickerstaff calls a play… and Garland inbounds the ball. Yep.
• When you need a shot most and your best offensive player is on the floor, you have him inbound the ball. Makes all the sense in the world.
• It’s just hard to say what this team is at this point. Not very good is one way to put it but they’re so confounding. Good one minute, bad the next. They keep saying they have to find themselves before time runs out but I’m not sure there’s enough time to do so.
• One final item. People say the Cavs are soft and to some extent I think that’s overblown. But when you have a Russell Westbrook showing you up after the buzzer, it doesn’t do away with those feelings. Westbrook was demonstrative in stomping all on the Cavs grave, and they let him. When you talk about an attitude change this summer, this should be front and center.
• Up next: Cavs head home to face Memphis Wednesday at 7PM (ET).