Recap: Warriors 119, Cavaliers 101
2021-04-16As expected, the Cleveland Cavaliers were given a lesson from the Golden State Warriors about playing great team basketball, and took a pretty ugly double digit loss, 119-101. The Cavs lost the rebound battle 47-39, and were totally outclassed offensively, getting out-assisted 33-21.
It wasn’t a Steph Curry special as Isaac Okoro and the Cavs’ defense appeared to have a pretty good night making Curry work for his 33 points on 25 shots and forcing 4 turnovers total. The Cavs were dominated by a whole host of great performances from Curry’s teammates, especially off the bench.
So, what went wrong in just 24 hours? Here are my takeaways:
1. Sexland was awful, but for different reasons.
I’ll start with Darius Garland first. He simply took too many bad shots, going 7-20 on the night, taking far too many shots inside the arc (13 tonight). He was generally making great passes and taking care of the ball (seven assists, only one turnover), he just should’ve done a lot more to get Love and Allen more touches.
As for Collin Sexton, casual fans and box score watchers would say Sexton had a great game: 30 points on 10-19 shooting, 3-5 from three, and zero turnovers. So what was the problem? Sexton led the team with an astoundingly bad -29 plus/minus in only 34 minutes, and his net rating for the game was -42.0! He was a ball hog on offense (8.0 assist ratio tonight on 29.9% usage rate), failing to get his teammates involved, and played his usual non-existent defense (zero stocks).
2. Bench outclassed, where was Hard Rock?
Taurean Prince had Sexton’s ball-hogging disease (Prince’s assist ratio tonight: 8.3 on 25.6% usage rate), and was a bench worst -18 plus/minus. He forgot to do the basics tonight: defend, rebound (only 2 rebounds), and move the ball. Dean Wade had no rebounds and a -17 plus/minus, Delly was a -16 plus/minus in only 13 minutes. All those numbers suggest some dead back to back legs. But if the guys had dead legs, where’s Lamar Stevens’ energy? Or Cedi Osman’s defensive energy?
Coach JB Bickerstaff only gave Isaiah Hartenstein 4 minutes, which is a curious choice. The team definitely could’ve used his defense and passing. Another curious choice from Bickerstaff was not playing Wade until the 2nd quarter, at least three of us in the Live Thread made a comment about it separately.
3. Game ball: Isaac Okoro and Jarrett Allen.
By far, two of the biggest positives were the play of Isaac Okoro and Jarrett Allen, especially defensively on Steph Curry showing bodies on him at all three levels of the floor.
Isaac Okoro ended up the lone positive impact player among the starters with a +3 plus/minus in 34 minutes, including three steals. Unfortunately playing at the starting small forward position, his rebounding took a major hit. One rebound in 34 minutes is just plainly unacceptable.
Jarrett Allen turned in a stellar double-double (17 points on 6-7 shooting, 14 rebounds) with two steals. He also went 5-6 from the free throw line. The only blemish on his night was the turnovers, five of them to be specific. But I really love how he cleaned the glass and defended tonight.
4. A crucial matchup ahead for the Cavs.
The Cavs hit the road in a huge game against the Chicago Bulls, with possible play-in implications. Supposedly Zach Lavine is out indefinitely due to health and safety protocols. We’ll see if the Cavs can bounce back, Go Cavs!
MY BAD —-TOOO MANY BEERS —:-)
YOU MEEANT “K” PJ CORRECT—AGREE I HAVE KEPT TRACK OF HIS BOX SCORES —-IT IS A “ROLLER COASTER ‘ RIDE —-WHEN HE IS ON HE SHOWS FLASHES OF “ALL STAR” BUT WHEN HE IS OFF IT IS “G LEAGUE ” AND MOST IMPORTANT IS HIS ON/ OFF COURT ATTITUDE / BEHAVIOR —SO YES I AGREE WHAT YOU ARE SAYING MISS WHAT HIS ( AND THIS IS AN OFTEN OVERUSED // SCARY TERM—–“POTENTIAL ” )—BUT NO WE DID NOT GIVE UP THE NEXT LEBRON/ MAGIC/ OSCAR / ETC
I think Jason was referring to Michael Porter, Jr. in Denver.
I know some of us (myself included) lament how the MPJ saga unfolded, particularly when he has a good game. Last night, he did not. 32 min. 1-9 FG. 4 pts. 4 TO. Team worst -23. Did have 5 dimes. Bring it up not to cheer the kid having a poor night, but to highlight that the kid still has a long way to go on the court (& off it). He ain’t Luka or LeBron, Magic or Bird, Kobe or MJ, or Oscar. Losing out on his potential sucked, but it is not some franchise devasting blow from which… Read more »
I don’t think a bad game disproves his long term trajectory. He’s already a top 50 impact player at age 22, and a top 20 offensive impact player. He’s on track for superstardom.
Think he meant KPJ.
Actually no idea based on above posts
LMFAOOOOOOO all good John, I might be wrong!!!
We may catch the Bulls, but catching the Raptors & Wizards is gonna be tougher.
This is what got me hyped for Killian Hayes LMFAOOOO
I think he’ll be good, but like most super young players, it’ll take time.
yeah, and unfortunately for him, he was behind the curve already before he suffered that hip injury.
THANKS CLF—AND YES “HARD ROCKS ” MEASLY 4 MIN’S STILL BEFUDLLES ME —PISSES ME OFF….GOING TO DRIVE ME TO DRINKING (EVEN MORE ) :-)
Enjoy your Friday happy hour NOMAD!!! LMFAOOOO
Yeah I agree!!! Four minutes to Hartenstein when he’s been pretty much 100% Hard Rock solid in a game where some defense and ball movement was missing…. I wish someone would ask him about it!!!
updated EPM:
#54 Allen +2.3
#136 LNJ +0.5
#145 Hartenstein +0.3
#220 KLOVE -0.9
#234 Sexton -1.1
#238 Wade -1.2
#282 Cedi -1.7
#288 DG -1.8
#302 Prince -2.0
#342 Stevens -2.8
#346 Dotson -2.8
#351 Okoro -2.9
#402 Windler -3.8
#406 Thomas -3.8
#424 Kabengele -4.5
#433 Delly -4.8
PLAYING THE BIG “IF ‘ GAME –NEXT 8 GAMES ARE WINNABLE FOR THE CAVS ——-“IF ” CAVS WOULD WIN ALL 8 GAMES THAT COULD POSSIBLY VAULT THEM ANYWHERE TO 10 TH / 11TH POSIBLY 12 TH DRAFT SLOT ——-DO YOU THINK KOBY/ FRONT OFFICE IS REVIEWING THIS ALSO —-DO WE GO FOR PLAYOFF SPOT OR TANK —WE SHALL SEE —ALOT OF THESE GAMES ARE AGAINST TEAMS THAT ARE SIMILAR TO THE CAVS —-“–PURSUE OR PUKE “—-WILL BE INTERESTING—ESPECIALLY TO SEE SOME ‘ IMPRONTO ” INJURIES SURFACE
I suspect unless the cavs are a lock for like the 9th seed we will see rest games and some subtle tanking maneuvers. Could be wrong. Just a feeling I get.
I think we will go for a playoff spot, but the schedule is pretty daunting to end the year and as a result we’ll fall short.
Apparently a lot of the media projections out there still have us with very little chance to even make the play-in game.
DIDN’T GET A CHANCE TO WATCH // JOIN IN —-WTF “HARD ROCK ” ONLY 4 MIN’S —WAT TO “INSPIRE// MOTIVATE ” HIM J.B. ESPECIALLY THE WAY HE HAS BEEN PLAYING OF LATE —-SAME GOES FOR STEVENS // WADE–IF THE OLDER GUYS ARE TIRED // PLAY THE YOUNGER DUDES ——YEP THE OFENSE CHANGES WITH SEXTON IN THERE // GRANTED HE GETS HIS PTS ( PROBABLY THE OPPOSING TEAMS STRATEGY ) BUT DOES NOT GET OTHER TEAMMATES INVOLVED// STALLS THE OFFENSE —-DO I LIKE YOUNG BULL –YES —IS A TIRELESS WORKER// HAS REALLY IMPROVED HIS GAME—SKILLS /// GOOD ATTITUDE—-NEEDS TO WORK ON… Read more »
Here’s hoping the Cavs organisation come to these conclusions come next season. New recruits will hopefully shake the tree & force some difficult decisions on the current players.
Agree 100% Simmo… influx of a lottery talent and possible game changer has the power to change the team in a big way.
this was another game where the Cavs team intelligence and coaching was the difference…anytime they got close there was a lack of focus, just dumb turnovers, and not getting the easy shot and trying for the extra pass. Garland looks like a one trick pony to me if he cant get shots off he’s mostly useless, same could be said for Sexton but the dude can put points on the board, albeit his defense is uh… When no name guys on Warriors were doing no look passes and still running the smooth offense of Warriors old you knew the Cavs… Read more »
That’s frankly just inaccurate with regards to Garland. He had 7 assists to one turnover. He is a point guard in the true sense of the word. Averages around 6 apg a game. Solid number for a guy who has only played 104 games. Not even two seasons worth of games. Sexton was not good last night. He might have been scoring, but no one else was getting shots when he was running it. He ran the bench unit and the bench unit was godawful. When he was in with the starters it felt like he bogged them down. He… Read more »
Nailed it, John B.
Yup, well said John B IMO.
Agree with considering a new coach. I’ve been pretty vocal about that as you guys know.
It’s obvious that our offensive design and the continued insistence on running out Sexland to the detriment of the defense are major impediments to team success. The question is when the will the Cavs hire a leader that’s willing to make tough decisions?
I am just unsure how much Sexland is coaching versus FO. I mean they’re Koby’s guys. Always have been. Always will be. His vision. His high draft picks. His responsibility and mark on the team. We know Lue basically had to be forced to start Sexton before he was ready or deserving. Then Lue basically quit and so did a bunch of veterans. That gives some indication of the FO’s sway over the game to game tactical management. We know Garland and Okoro both started crazy early too. I suspect unless another GM is brought in, Koby will make it… Read more »
I think trying to tease out coaching vs. FO in regards to Sexland doesn’t matter… both (Koby and JB) of their names are signed on the dotted line on this.
I agree with you about the noticeable improvement on defense this year, although I’m inclined to attribute that to a massive upgrade in personnel at the center position (Dre, Allen, Hartenstein) along with Nance’s run of great defensive play. Maybe the coaching staff does get credit for unlocking LNJ defensively? IDK
It is hard to differentiate, but JB was also Koby’s hire. I kind of doubt Dan G is really all that hands on anymore after his medical struggles. So if JB was the wrong guy, then it would likely fall on Koby. I won’t credit Beilein to him. That seemed likely to have been pushed by DG.
yup, yup… IDK about Beilein but makes some sense.