A Tale of two Recaps: Cleveland 100, Minnesota 98 (or, Baseline Competence)

Congrats on scoring a C+, Cavs. After falling to Minnesota 109-104 (in a game that wasn’t that close) Sunday, Cleveland barely hung on to beat the Wolves Monday night without Andre Drummond and his soul-crushing parade of post-ups slowing them down. While a lot of really good things happened for the wine and gold last night, the Cavs weren’t without their glaring problems as they hung on to beat one of the NBA’s three worst teams who were playing without their best player.

Andre Drummond finished with 25/22/4 Sunday. It was clear then, that the dictate to get him post touches is sucking the life out of the Cavs’ offense. The Cavs offered up a paltry 16 three-pointers to the basketball gods. Monday wasn’t that much better, as they put up 22 and canned 35 of 84 from the field as opposed to 41 of 84 Sunday. The biggest improvement: six fewer turnovers for Cleveland as the Cavs were freed from the monotony of a Drummond offense and everyone seemed to play with more “joy.” Did the newfound freedom allow Cedi Osman to go 2-8 from inside the arc and Taurean Prince to go 1-7 from behind it on Monday? Sure, but we’re talking baby steps, here, folks. The other big improvement: a better march to the free throw line, especially in the second quarter when the Cavs got in the bonus with eight minutes left, and a much more efficient scoring threat inside.

CLF said it better than I ever could how painful Drummond has been for Cleveland this year despite a usage that is way too high.

This is how poorly designed the offensive scheme has been so far this year:

Drummond accounts for 31% usage, which is in the 98% percentile in the NBA.

His offensive EPM is -1.4, which is ranked 8th best on the Cavs’ roster… one spot BEHIND Thon Maker, who was at -1.0.

Woof. Fortunately, Dre’s “substitute” Jarett Allen was a banger. Allen patrolled the paint on D and rocked the rim on O. He finished 23/18/1 with five blocks and just one turnover. He was 7-9 from the field and 11-14 from the line. He’s the first Cav ever to put up that line with only nine field goal attempts. He was blocking or altering a ton of Minnesota shots and they kept coming at him. All in all, the Cavs blocked 12 Minny shots with Javale (DNP, Sunday) also getting in on the action with three of his own. And the dunks. OMG the dunks were epic: a standing takeoff windmill that looked like a sky hook and just kept going, and an alley oop from Garland that was NBA-Jam-esque.

But… this is the kind of dominance the Cavs’ should have against a team trotting out the very forked Ed Davis, Naz Reid, and Jarred Vanderbilt: all who max out at about six-nine. Honestly, the Cavs should’ve won Sunday when Sexland combined for nine turnovers, and Monday’s shouldn’t have been that close. Fortunately, Garland played one of his most complete games as a Cav with a 19/3/11 only two turnovers line and solid defense throughout the night. I’m taking the commenters’ word for the D because I didn’t notice it. I spent a lot of the time watching Garland’s offense where he Nashed repeatledly, kicked the ball out, found shooters and cutters, and then closed the game with a ridiculous dream shake spinning finger roll, and a legit dream shake turnaround a few minutes later. The Cavs were at their best on offense when the ball was in Garland’s hands. He was rolling.

Collin Sexton, conversely, has had a rough couple of games. He had a “my turn” turnover when he didn’t give the ball up to Garland in crunch time that was really irritating. Sexton’s too often careening into the free throw line area from the high pick and roll and just shooting a give-up floater or pull-up. Too often the Cavs ball handlers are not pausing after engaging the pick to read the defense and just committing before the defense does.

What Sexton did Monday when he put up 26 as opposed to Sunday when he he put up 16 was get to the line. He was 10-11 from charity, and repeatedly put the onus on officials to make calls. He had zero free throw attempts Sunday and only one triple try. Monday he was 2-4 including a make that barely touched his fingers as he threw it up off a pass before the shot clock expired. Sexton should be shooting at least six threes a game at the rates he’s shooting. But as many noted Sunday, Cavs’ guards are refusing to shoot when teams go under the pick. The Cavs’ guards have to get better at letting it fly, and setting up their screens just a little higher. Also seems like Sexton is better when the p/r is tilted a little for him instead of straight on, though I’ve no data to back that up.

Isaac Okoro was steady as she goes defensively both nights, putting up 13/2/4 on Sunday for some much needed bonus offense, and only four points with three turnovers Monday, while leading the team with a +14 stint on the floor, mainly by aying stellar defense and delivering smart, timely passes. What Ice did Sunday offensively was not hesitate from three, where he was 1-3. Most of Okoro’s offensive problems Monday were due to turning down open threes and breaking the offense. As you could see throughout the game, even just shooting open threes provided offensive rebounds for the Cavs’ perimeter guys, and loosened up the D. They have to do it more.

Dylan Windler’s 13 minute, two turnover 0-fer (zero other stats) Sunday, led to a five minute stint Monday where he was better, but still innocuous. Lamar Stevens got a lot of his minutes Monday. Stevens was ok, but a team low -18 and part of a disastrous 11-0 run in the early fourth that gave Minnesota a one point lead.

That run came on the heels of yet another J.B. Bickerstaff failed challenge. Coach is starting to look like the Jack Del Rio of the NBA. He’s terrible about every part of the process: choosing bad times to challenge, challenging plays that he can’t win, challenging plays with minimal game impact, and using the challenging when it kills his team’s momentum. He’s abysmal at it.

Similarly, the Cavs still routinely fail to run competent out of bounds plays, especially from the baseline. This one was glaring as the Cavs nursed a seven point lead before a DeAngelo Russell triple cut it to four with 14 seconds left. On the ensuing inbounds, I screamed at the TV for J.B. to take one of his two timeouts to advance the ball to no avail. Taurean Prince passed it to Garland who was standing out of bounds in the left corner (still took a replay review to get the call right).

After, Beasley put back an Edwards triple, and J.B. mercifully called timeout. Jim Chones and I both yelled at the Cavs when Taurean Prince got the ball from the sideline out-of-bounds play to shoot the intentional fouls with 3.9 seconds left instead of Garland or Sexton. While an 82% free throw shooter, Prince had just split a pair of freebies a minute earlier, and was a woeful 2-10 from the field, and 3-16 over the last two. Crisis averted as Prince hit ’em both to seal the deal. The end of the game was a welcome sigh of relief.

Cleveland gave up 65 to Beasley, Edwards, and D-Lo Russel Sunday compared to just 41 Monday, so win there, too. Russell is the most meh 20-ppg 24-year-old former all-star I’ve ever seen. He floats through the night, but the Wolves have a solid set of young talent, and are poised for another rock star from the ’21 draft.

The Cavs’ still aren’t running any action on the weak side, which is comical. A simple weak-side pindown to spring a guy from the corner to the wing, and/or set up a weak side cut would do wonders. Still, at least we aren’t watching Drummond go one-on-four like we Did Sunday, and the kids look more engaged. Back to the grindstone against the Clippers tomorrow, a winnable game for the Cavs. Hopefully J.B. can outcoach NBA Champion Ty Lue after losing the battle to Ryan Saunders Saturday and tempting fate with bad timeout management, challenges, and too much Zone Monday, lets hope the Cavs bait Pbev and Co. into a lot of fouls continue the one game trend of baseline competence.