Recap: Detroit 127, Cleveland 94 (or, Triptophan Blues)

These young Cavs struggle with too many days off. After a competitive game against the Bucks last Friday, the Cavs laid a turkey egg in this one. It’s hard to point to X’s and O’s when the Cavs failed at focusing, caring, and trying on both ends of the court. Much was made of film study and practice in the leadup and early game commentary, and it’s my guess that one of three things happened in this contest. The first possibility (and probably the most likely) was that the same thing that happens to me after a long holiday weekend happened to the Cavs.

When I imbibe too much turkey, triptophan, and beer and it takes me half a day to get back into a rhythm at work. I spend the first few hours in a fog remembering what I was supposed to be doing and nodding through meetings, half in a daze. I suspect the long layoff had a similar effect on the Cavs after a stretch of eight games in 12 nights. The second possibility is that the film study and practice left the Cavs ill prepared for for Detroit’s tactics and the Cavs tuned out their coach when the game plan wasn’t working.

This is a completely plausible explanation. The Cavaliers were like me trying to Christmas shop online on Black Friday and ending up with a half dozen used Funko Pops from Ebay, a laptop with a Mexican keyboard, and a bunch of knockoff Pandora charms that may or may not come with a lead poisoning warning. Like my Christmas list, The Cavs were devoid of coherence, effort, and logic when it came to defensive scheme and execution. The Cavs would routinely make one or two rotations, then nothing else, and the initial defender was often dusted by a simple drive or ball screen.

The third possibility was that this team is that this team is losing hope. Kevin Love seemed particularly disheartened as the game went on. Despite a furious 15-0 run by the Cavs in the late part of the first quarter, the Pistons methodically used superior passing and shooting to dismantle the Cavs inferior effort and built the lead to 19 by the latter part of the second quarter. After scoring five points in the first 135 seconds, Love finished the game with eight points and four rebounds and was -18 in 22 minutes. Love got roasted on defense when he did play, but really, no one could stop Blake Griffin as he finished 6-7 from three for 24 points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFfoqXBdqsE

The other monster this game was Andre Drummond and his 17/14/4 night with five steals and four blocks. Drummond thumped a couple resounding dunks and thoroughly outclassed Tristan Thompson’s 10 and 14. Thompson’s hook has gotten flatter and less accurate of late, and his defensive rotations were as slow as anyone’s.

Perhaps Kevin Love was frustrated with Sexland’s complete inability to hit an open big on a pick and pop. The two guards’ prowess at ignoring an open Love in order to drive into the teeth of the defense is truly something. In fact, Drummond’s first two blocks came from exactly that decision.

Collin Sexton was not without his moments, finishing with 22/4/3 on 16 shots, and indeed his defense, and lightning fast steals in the passing lane were a key part of the Cavs’ 15-0 run that offered the game’s only bright spot for Cleveland. During the run, Sexton put up a couple of beautiful layups over Derrick Rose and at another point later in the game, he had a nifty “no-gather” one-handed layup extending right by Andre Drummond. Sexton’s shot hunting, however, was a frustrating part of the evening that saw him press for his shot and eschew passing in the simplest of sets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6z5LS3XFUc

As for Garland. Whoo boy. This was another stinker. Garland scored seven and finished with no assists and looked completely passive on defense. He was even more absent than Love.

The other culprit this game was a bench unit that was neutered when Detroit took the Milwaukee tactic of hard doubling Jordan Clarkson and taking away the bench’s primary offensive weapon: Clarksolations. Without that, the unit was completely ineffective, because as the live thread most deftly noted: Delly can’t hit anything right now outside of five feet. While Kevin Porter Junior and Clarkson finished with 22 points combined on 21 shots , they were -24 and -25 respectively as they were just as culpable as everyone else on this squad when it comes to wandering around like inebriated gobblers when Detroit had the ball.

Perhaps playing with, newly returned to the lineup, John Henson screwed up the chemistry, but the bench was a dumpster fire. Delly was eviscerated by Derrick Rose who looked absolutely lively with a 12/2/9 evening in just 22 minutes. I get pissed about 2018 every time I watch him.

As the game went from lamentable to embarrassing, John Beilein decided to return some starters to the floor sans Kevin Love to (I guess?) keep the lead from getting over 40, but more likely to get the offense into a rhythm. It didn’t look much better as the Nance+youngsters closed out the night leaving a lot of questions. At least Larry Nance Jr. wasn’t awful, but as many a comment noted, he and Love need a lot more touches.

As for Detroit: kudos. You’re now at 5-13, a game and a half out of the playoffs, and with a healthy Blake Griffin on board. A get right win against the Cavs might be the spark you need to stop being crappy. Detroit looked deep as they had six guys in double figures and wore out the nets, swishing 18-35 from three. Svi Mykhailuk (15/2/4) and Christan Wood (8/4/3) were two guys the Pistons got off the scrap heap who are both doing positive things for them: Svi (while a defensive problem) is posting a 63 TS% and Wood an insane 26 PER and 70 TS% and has completely supplanted Thon Maker as a rotation player for the Pistons.

There are a lot of people better at team building than Koby Altman. God, I hope he’s not my secret Santa this year. Whelp, at least these kids have more long layoffs this week. See you Friday, Magic!