Recap: Spurs 116, Cavs 110 (Or, The Game Of Many Offenses)

Recap: Spurs 116, Cavs 110 (Or, The Game Of Many Offenses)

2019-03-29 Off By David Wood

Tonight’s game was a bizarre one from an offensive viewpoint. Both teams looked like multiple versions of themselves throughout the evening. The Cavs ran at least five different offenses: The Sexton Solo Show offense, Love’s Mismatch  offense, Clarkson’s Brick Delivery offense, Knight’s and Nwaba’s Doing It Right Offense, and the Cedi Clowning Around offense. The Spurs played at least four different styles: the Left to Right 3s All Night Offense, the La-Iso Offense, the Belinelli “He Isn’t Just A 3-Shooter” offense, and the DeMar Destruction offense. This resulted in a great game with the Cavs leading by as many as 11 and the Spurs leading by as many as nine.

The Collin Sexton and Kevin Love based offenses worked pretty well for the Cavs. Sexton put up 24 on 10-17 shooting and he hit 3-7 from deep. Love had 18 points and eight boards.

The Spurs’ DeMar DeRozan offense worked out slightly better though. He put up 25 points on 10-12 shooting and had eight assists. After having just four points and one assist in the 1st half, he helped the Spurs rip off a 40 point third quarter attacking Cedi Osman for 17 points and four assists. Cedi was not able to match DeMar by any means. He went 4-13 for nine points. He had five boards and seemed to brick shot after shot in the fourth quarter often disrupting the flow of the offense.

In the fourth quarter, with the Cavs down 111–110, DeMar went one-on-one against Cedi. After DeMar dribbled for a few seconds, LaMarcus Aldridge ran up to set a screen for him. DeMar immediately drew three Cavalier defenders and was able to find Patty Mills in the corner for a game sealing 3-pointer.

Bryn Forbes of the Spurs feasted off the ball movement the team created getting 19 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Marco Belinelli also had a great game for the Spurs. He had 16 points and just two of them came from 3-pointers. He used the fear of his shot to get to the rim almost at will. LaMarcus struggled most of the evening taking 15 shots to get 14 points. He grabbed just three rebounds. His struggles were the result of some great one-on-one defense by the Cavalier bigs and a willingness of other Cavs to cut down on him when he caught the ball too deep in the post.

The first quarter was a great watch. Love and Sexton both went 4-4 from the field for 10 points and nine points each respectively. Sexton showed his ability to dust big men and just get to the rack if his defender isn’t squared up.

Love was cutting like a man obsessed. He was running to his spots like a man obsessed.

The Spurs really tried to work their offense through LaMarcus early on, but the Cavs did a great job defending him. They bodied him and hassled him. The Spurs offense created great looks when they moved the ball around going 5-11 from 3-point land. The Cavs finished the quarter strong after David Nwaba had a put-back slam and a coast to coast layup after a long miss in the final minute.

The Cavs started the second quarter up 28-27. Initially, things looked like they might fall apart as Clarkson was just straight chucking, looking as if he hadn’t completed the part of his basketball curriculum that discusses passing the ball. The Cavs righted things though. Starting at the 7:18 mark, after Brandon Knight drove and found Clarkson cutting from the corner to the rim for an acrobatic layup, the Cavs went on a 19-9 run to finish the quarter. Knight was crucial to the run scoring the next five points after a steal of his own and a David Nwaba steal. During the run, the Cavs just took what they had in front of them and it worked out well. They had just three assists in the entire quarter, but it didn’t seem like the offense wasn’t firing by any means. The Cavs entered the locker room up big, 53-44.

DeMar DeRozan simply owned the third quarter. He scored fifteen of his 17 points in the quarter in the first six minutes of action. At one point, he scored nine straight for the Spurs. He made Cedi looked like a G-Leaguer.

DeMar made six of the Spurs’ 16 baskets in the quarter and assisted on four of the remaining ten. Davis Bertans did his job and hit both of the 3s DeMar set up for him. And, here’s the crazy thing about this quarter, the Cavalier offense wasn’t all that bad. They put up 28 points. Sexton had nine. They just couldn’t stop DeMar at all. The Cavs ended the quarter down by a 3-ball, 84-81.

Marco Belinelli started the fourth for the Spurs and scored four quick points off layups and then dimed up Davis for a 3-ball to put the Spurs up nine with nine minutes left to play.

Larry Nance Jr. made sure the Cavs weren’t totally blown out though. He scored the first six points for the Cavs and went 4-4 in quarter and grabbed six boards. He finished the night with 13 points and 11 boards. He had a great hand-off fake and drive near the end of the action. He tipped in a miss too. He was working his butt off.

The Cavs fought back to get a two point lead with 5:13 left off a Cedi 3-pointer when Sexton found him after racing down the floor after a long miss. But, the Cavs just didn’t have the focus down the stretch to win the game. Time after time, they allowed the Spurs to score all too easily while taking poor shots not within any offensive game plan.

DeMar stayed focused. With the game tied at 106, he posted up and found Patty Mills behind the arc who then passed to an open Rudy Gay for 3. Then a few plays later DeMar found Belinelli coming with speed towards the middle of the floor to keep the Spurs ahead 111-108 with 1:27 left.

The Cavs would score again to hit 110, but after that they failed to get another good shot. Cedi took a step-back long 2 to try and take the lead, rather than working for a better shot. It didn’t work out and the Spurs won after the Mills shot I showed at the start of this recap.

Gripes

  • The Cavs let DeMar go off without trying to change their game plan for him at all. 17 points in a quarter is ridiculous. After Cedi showed he couldn’t contain him, Larry Drew should have pulled him and tried someone else on him, such as David Nwaba.
  • The Cavs didn’t do a great job recovering out to 3-point shooters tonight. The Spurs love to run a pick and roll on the right side of the floor and than get the ball back to the left side. They make the man on the weak side have to consistently cover two shooters. They went 14-33 from downtown.
  • Clarkson is so aggravating to watch when he isn’t hitting his shot. He will look off the entire team at times to just take a floater. He went 4-15 for 10 points.
  • Marquese Chriss is just awful. He plays entitled basketball. He won’t do the little things to stay on the floor and he just doesn’t have the pedigree to play that way. Fortunately for you readers, the NBA website won’t let me pull the Derrick White 3-pointer at the start of the fourth that Chriss failed to close out on. Take my word for, it was a complete and total lack of effort. Chriss put up just two points.
  • Cedi played pretty terribly tonight and his confidence looks rattled. He was missing by a foot at times on his jumper, and he seemed to not understand the importance of taking smart shots in the fourth.

Hypes

  • Despite going 0-5 from the floor in the fourth, Sexton had another nice night getting 24 points. He’s showing a lot of growth with his ability to finish and is still stroking it from 3-land.
  • Brandon Knight is a pleasant surprise. He’s listed at just 6’3”, but he plays much bigger and looks a lot bigger. He had 14 points on 6-9 shooting and dished out two assists. He’s a steadying force next to Sexton and plays basketball the right way. He runs the floor every chance he gets:
  • David Nwaba also plays the right way. He went 5-6 for 11 points. He played great defense all evening and ran the floor too:
  • Notice in the video how weak Chriss goes up. It’s just another reason to dislike him.
  • The Cavs played a decent game and were in it most of the night despite DeMar getting magma level hot in the third. The Spurs and Popovich finish games. It’s kind of their thing, so the Cavs shouldn’t hang their head after this loss.
  • The Spurs retired Manu Ginobili‘s jersey tonight. Tim Duncan was there, and he’s still the worst dressed man in North America. Appreciate the quote about Manu though. Appreciate Tim’s clothes. He’s wearing a tucked in graphic t-shirt, ill fitting jeans, and a blazer. Some things never change.

 

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@nothingwood I like bikes, beer, and basketball. Not always in that order.

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Nate Smith

Nice cap. Still gotta find a way to move TT to open up the spot for Junior.

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EvilGenius

Enjoyed the cap DW! Had to miss the game live, but watched the DVR replay. I think Nance could be an absolute beast next year with another off season to work on his shooting and post moves…

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Jason

Good cap. We need a PG plain and simple. Sexton is a scorer at best and creates little to nothing for others. Clarkson is mostly a hog. Cedi makes a ton if bad decisions. They all play hard, though.

Nance & Love are our 2 best decision makers with Delly out.

Not putting Nwaba on DeRozan was poor coaching.

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Nate Smith

Only if your goal is winning. Lue is masterfully doing just enough to lose.

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West Coast Cav

PG is maybe the toughest position in basketball to learn. Sexton has shown major developments in his game and realistically the offensive-scoring part of ones game is the easiest to learn and the first to come. I have no doubt that he’ll continue to grow, understanding how to facilitate and how to play defense, most rookies are horrible defenders, there’s just too much to know. Delly does a lot with a little, but he will never be able to do what Sexton can do, yet with time and hard work Sexton will be able to do everything Delly can do.… Read more »

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JMay

Great recap, David. Only caught bits and pieces of this one. Really wish Cedi wasn’t so reliant on his emotions to have a good game. When he’s on, he’s on and when he’s off, he’s really off.

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