Recap: Cavs 110, Wizards 119 (or, Bench Blues…)

Tonight the Cleveland Cavaliers put up a valiant effort against the Washington Wizards, losing an intensely competitive, dare I say “chippy” contest 119-110. The Cavs did better than keeping the game within single digits, they should’ve won the game given how the offense dominated the first three quarters. But some inexperience and fatigue from the young stars and questionable coaching down the stretch doomed the Cavs in the fourth quarter to the tune of 32-17. Let’s get right to it with tonight’s takeaways…

Game Balls: Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland

Jarrett Allen 🔨

27 PTS
12 REB
2 STL
3 BLK
56.4 FPTS

He registered 55+ FPTS for the 5th time this season.pic.twitter.com/isPlAfECKK

— NBA Fantasy (@NBAFantasy) April 26, 2021

Jarrett Allen responded perfectly from a self-described poor performance against Charlotte, with a career high 27 points (10-12 FGs, 7-9 FTs), 12 rebounds (seven offensive rebounds), five stocks, and two assists. This is possibly his best game as a Cav, impacting both ends of the court. It was beautiful to see DG or Larry Nance, Jr. feed Allen on numerous attacks at the rim, leading to some insanely efficient offense.

DG really stepped up in a big way offensively tonight in the absence of Collin Sexton, with 28 points (9-20 FGs, 6-6 FTs, 4-8 3pt FGs), nine assists, four rebounds, and a steal. The team put up an elite 122.5 offensive rating while DG was on the floor tonight. The ball movement was fantastic with the team collecting 28 assists and shooting over 50% from the field (51.3% shooting for the game). DG and Allen both led the starters in net rating  (+10.7 and +5.2 respectively).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrFUE-QLdFg

Unfortunately for DG and the Cavs, the elite offensive play didn’t hold up in the fourth quarter, and part of it was due to DG playing too much hero ball to close the game out. The inconsistent decision making reared its ugly head in the box score, with DG turning it over an unacceptable six times. It was great to see the self-confidence growing in DG, but there was a missed opportunity down the stretch tonight to lean on veterans such as Kevin Love to bring the game home. But don’t be misunderstood, the two biggest reasons why the Cavs had a chance in this game were because of the play of DG and Allen.

Welcome back Cedi Osman!

After an extended benching, Cedi the Jedi turned in a great offensive performance as a spot starter with 19 efficient points (7-12 FGs, 3-6 3pt FGs), five assists, two rebounds, and a steal. Kudos to Cedi for staying ready and turning in a professional performance. Hopefully with fresh legs and a little momentum, fans will see Cedi finish the rest of the season strongly.

Questionable coaching and a lack of depth

The Cavs’ lack of depth, especially without Collin Sexton, Dylan Windler, and Taurean Prince, made a painful appearance in tonight’s game, with the Cavs’ bench getting outscored 51-14 by the Wizards’ bench. Nance, Matthew Dellavedova, and Isaiah Hartenstein are non-scorers, and Coach JB Bickerstaff refused to play guys who could score, such as Damyean Dotson, Brodric Thomas, or Dean Wade.

Bickerstaff’s refusal to go back to Thomas and Wade in the second half was particularly puzzling, since both were the only bench players to post positive plus/minus minutes with decent play off the bench, especially defensively. Instead, JB chose to ride the disastrous performances of Hartenstein (-29.2 net rating), Lamar Stevens (-30.7 net rating), and Delly (-34.0 net rating) in the second half.

To be fair to Stevens and Hartenstein, both were set up to fail by Bickerstaff. JB brought Stevens cold off the bench after giving Stevens barely any minutes for weeks on end, and assigned him to guard Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook. It was totally unfair to Stevens. With Hartenstein, Wizards’ Coach Scotty Brooks made a second half adjustment by going with the super athletic, high upside talent of Daniel Gafford to defend DG on any switches. There was no counter adjustment by Bickerstaff, such as going five out with Dean Wade, or calling plays for the little used Kevin Love (17.7% usage rate).

There was also questionable decisions by JB Bickerstaff outside of rotations or strategy. JB picked up a meaningless technical complaining about calls in a one point game at that point. As Nate Smith correctly noted in the live thread, JB decided to challenge a doomed play in the fourth quarter which resulted in another lost challenge and timeout. According to the live thread, there was also another doomed play after a timeout, which seems to be a disturbing pattern over the course of the year. It’s hard as a fan to sit here and see big time performances from DG and Allen go to waste because Bickerstaff couldn’t press the right buttons in crunch time.

Quick notes on the Wizards

Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook were special tonight, with Beal dropping a deadly efficient 33 points and Westbrook dishing out a game high 11 assists. Credit for the win also goes to Scotty Brooks’ halftime adjustments, riding the hot hands of Daniel Gafford, Davis Bertans, and Garrison Mathews off the bench. Daniel Gafford in particular was a terror on the defensive end, with a ridiculous eight stocks. There were more than a few Bulls fan questioning why Chicago gave up so easily on one of their best defensive big men this season.

The hits keep coming…

The Cavs will have to shake this one off quickly as they travel to Tampa to take on the feisty Raptors. DG and Allen played 40 and 34 minutes respectively, so the task to win will assuredly be tough. Until then, GO CAVS!