It’s been over a week since the Cavs last won a game, and it seems even longer than that. For a stretch of time, it seemed like it may extend longer but the undermanned Grizzlies didn’t have enough bite to last all night.
If there ever was such a thing as an unconvincing double-digit win, it was tonight. The Grizzlies led for 9:29 minutes in the first half, the Cavs led for 8:40 minutes. A back-and-forth game and losing at half time are not what anyone would want to see heading into the playoffs but then again nothing about the second half of the season has felt warm and cozy.
You know who was warm and cozy? Jake LaRavia. The second-year player had a career high 32 points and was scoring hot all night. He started the game 4-for-4 from three-point range and scored 14 points in the first quarter. The Grizzlies were 5-for-9 from three-point in the quarter.
Donovan Mitchell also came out feeling good – he was the only thing cooking for the Cavs early. He had one mid-range pull-up and two three-pointers to start the game, scoring the Cavs first eight points. Mitchell had 13 points and created 7 points in the quarter.
Mitchell is still not moving real well. There’s little explosiveness and lift in his game as it stands. Mitchell is a shell of himself right now. He can still be effective, and showed tonight, but anything inside the paint is essentially off limits. He was 2-for-5 inside the restricted area for the game.
Mitchell was responsible for the 17 of the Cavs first 20 points. The Cavs struggled to find much footing outside of him early.
However, when Mitchell went to the bench the Cavs proceeded to go on a 9-0 run. Mitchell went to bench with Cavs down 9 – proceeded to go on 9-0 run. JB Bickerstaff was urging the Cavs to push it with any opportunity they got. While the Cavs first quarter pace was 92, Georges Niang, Caris LeVert and Isaac Okoro all had pace numbers over 101 for the quarter.
Ironically enough, the Cavs standard second unit lineup was the Cavs best 5-man lineup of the game: Evan Mobley + Niang + LeVert + Okoro + Darius Garland were a +15 in just over ten minutes.
The Grizzlies scored all 29 points in the first nine minutes of the quarter – the Cavs held the Grizzlies scoreless the final three minutes. This helped enable the Cavs to take a lead into the second quarter.
Whatever wave the Cavs were riding ended in the second. It took the Cavs three minutes to score in the second quarter, and they only scored three points for over six minutes to start the quarter. In that span, they were 0-for-5 from 3P and committed two turnovers.
The second quarter was a cluster for the Cavs – it’s really the only way to put it. The offense looked disheveled, and unorganized, and the players look uninterested in being there. The Cavs only managed to put up 16 second quarter points which is just three more players than the Grizzlies currently have on their injured list.
For the quarter, the Cavs shot 23.8% from the field, and 22.2% from three-point range. It’s not like the Grizzlies were any more efficient, as they shot 28% from the field but 62.5% from three-point range. The Grizzlies five three pointers kept them in the game and helped them win the second quarter 22-16.
Allen was active for the Cavs with six rebounds but woefully inefficient going 0-for-3 and was 1-for-6 in the half. In a matchup with rookie Trey Jemison, Allen only had one more rebound and one more basket at the half. Allen was a -12 for the half.
JBB kept a tight rotation: He only played eight guys, and those three bench players combined for 1-for-9 at half. Somehow, they were a +5 combined. Sam Merrill was out with whiplash and Dean Wade was still out with an ailing knee.
Over the last six games, Niang has gone 3-for-20 on three-pointers. With Wade being out indefinitely, and there not being many other bigs to turn to, it’s not an ideal time for Niang to go cold. He’s also a -37 in those said six games – tonight was the first time he had a positive plus-minus since March 29.
Whatever happened to Marcus Morris? After three straight games with 12+ minutes, he’s now played one game of 12+ over his last four including zero minutes tonight. While I understand Bickerstaff is trying to get his playoff rotation in line, with the injuries and ineffectiveness of some players, Morris can still help.
The third quarter was much of the same for the Cavs: Eight points over the first five minutes. This included four Garland missed three-pointers and one turnover. In a thirty second span, Garland missed three three-pointers.
But then, Mitchelland Allencombined for a play that turned the tides of the whole game. Mitchell was somehow able to come up with a strip steal on a fast break, and adeptly keep it in bounds to Max Strus. This led to a fast break going the other way with Garland finding Allen for a massive dunk. This brought energy to the crowd, and even got Morris a technical for being too far on the floor after the dunk.
Like the Allen and Ben Simmons incident earlier in the season, the Cavs took that and ran. The Cavs were down one point after the dunk. They proceeded to go on a 21-9 run to end the quarter.
That dunk was part of seven straight Allen points, and 12 points in the quarter. In a first half when he was noticeably quiet, the dunk was demonstrative and so was his presence in the third quarter. He wrapped up the quarter with two big blocks.
After a dreadful second quarter, the Cavs almost doubled up the Grizzlies in the third quarter by tune of 30 to 16. After shooting carried the Grizzlies in the first, they shot just 1-of-8 from three-point range in the quarter. LaRavia was 0-for-2.
With Mitchell on the bench to start the fourth quarter, the Cavs decided to try starting quarters a little different. They went on an 8-2 run and pushed their lead to 17 points. Their biggest lead of the night would come later in the quarter at 20 points.
The Grizzlies simply ran out of gas in the fourth quarter, although it was not like they had much to begin with. They only had eight healthy players, were on the second night of a home-away back-to-back and all their starters played 35+ minutes for the game. There were times in defense and transition where the Grizzlies were just not present.
By the time all the regulars subbed out, the led was down to 14 points but there were only a couple minutes left. For some teams that may mean eternity but for the Grizzlies it meant the end was near.
Overall, this is one of those games that might fool you by looking at the box score, but the game and box score tell two totally different stories. Mobley had a double-double, Garland had a near double-double, and LeVert had 18 points on the night. But for large stretches, each were relatively ineffective. LeVert until the fourth quarter, Mobley did most his damage in the first quarter, and Garland with his usual ups and down throughout the game.
If Mitchell is going to be limited, those three guys are going to be relied upon more consistently and to provide more of a scoring punch. They combined for 46 points tonight on 36 shots – that’s probably not enough, and surely not efficient enough.
Do credit Mobley for his continued improvement from the perimeter. He made two three-pointers to start the game and is averaging one three point attempt in the first quarter, his most of any quarter this season. Since the All-Star break, Mobley is shooting 34.5% on 1.7 attempts per game.
If you extrapolate that further, Mobley is at 1.8 3PA on 42.9% in February, 1.6 3PA on 46.2% for March and 2 3PA on 37.5% for April. Those aren’t really numbers we’ve seen up until this point in his career.
I think what most people feel about Mobley is the feeling they want him those watching to elicit: They want Mobley to make his impact felt on the game. He has all the talent in the world to do it but in stretches it can feel more like he fades to the background than steps to the forefront.
With that being said, this is still a player who is progressing: He’s averaging career highs across the board, is incredibly efficient across the board, and is taking the step from the perimeter all while doing so as a 4th/5th option most times on offense and battling an inconsistent year health wise. Bigs take time, and Mobley is still on track.
Strus has now only hit double-digits in two of his last six games and is back down to 34.6% from three. If the Cavs are going to make a run in the playoffs, Strus getting hot at the right time will help so much.
The first half very much looked like a team who was not all-in for their coach. This isn’t meant to be messy but after a terrible late game loss when players leaked to the media their questioning of coaching staff decisions, and in a game (arguably) they needed, to come out flat like they did can’t reflect well on where this team and coaching staff currently stand.
It really is hard to believe if the Cavs just played .500 basketball after the All-Star break, they would be Central Division champions. The last time they won the Central is 2017-2018 which is also when they last went to the Finals.
Up next: They stay home to take on the Indiana Pacers Friday at 7:30PM(ET) with playoff seeding implications.
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