Cavs 101, Lakers 113 (or, Tower City Limits)

Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers put together a dominant fourth quarter to earn a much needed victory against Cavs. Unlike the game against the Clippers where the Cavs’ defense dominated the game, the Lakers were able to shred the Cavs’ defense to the tune of a team-wide 50/40/90 game. Let’s dive right on in…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ7ciK6Y-VY

1. Game MVP: Evan Mobley

The San Diego native apparently enjoyed some of the “home” cooking of his native southern California, putting up a team-high 23 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals. The Cavs’ defensive rating was also best with Mobley on the court among the starters, by far. What was particularly nice about Mobley’s game tonight was that guys were looking for him, and he was being very aggressive in looking for his shots on offense. It’s not unreasonable to think that the Cavs could’ve called his number even more with the way he was cooking.

2. Honorable Mention: Darius Garland’s passing

DG was absolutely on fire distributing the ball, turning in a double double with 18 points and a team-high 11 assists. The Cavs posted an offensive rating of 112.5 while DG was on the floor, highest among starters. DG and Mobley were clearly the two guys that were able to generate the type of offense that kept the Cavs in the game. The big blemish on DG’s night was, again, the turnovers. Six of them in this game, and six in the last game against the Clippers is simply too much. Some of the turnovers can be explained by trying to integrate two new pieces into the starting lineup. But at the end of the day, DG’s stated goal was an assist to turnover ratio of 3:1, and he failed to hit that mark.

3. A game to forget for Collin Sexton

After playing one of his best games, Young Bull turned in what might’ve been one of his worst games as a Cav. Young Bull played as if he wanted to destroy the china shop, with three turnovers and terrible shooting (38.7% true shooting percentage). YB’s net rating on the night? -35.5. He was in a word, unplayable. But he wasn’t the only one who struggled…

4. Tower City Limits

Along with Young Bull, Lauri Markkanen and Jarrett Allen were unplayable and the trio really tanked any chance the Cavs had at winning this game. For Lauri, the struggle was particularly acute on defense, where the Cavs posted an abysmal 130.0 defensive rating while the Big Finn was on the court, worst among starters. As for Allen, he posted a team-worst net rating of -39.9 in 31.2 minutes on the court. No team can survive a player bleeding more than a point per minute for every minute they’re playing.

5. Coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s rotation decisions questionable

Given how bad Lauri, YB, and JA were, why not try to ride Kevin Love a little bit more? He was providing much needed help on the boards (25.0% defensive rebound rate) and slick passing (20.0 assist ratio). Love was one of only two rotation players with a positive net rating (+5.9). The other player? None other than Lamar Stevens (+8.1). Yes, the all the bunnies Stevens blew looked bad. But, there’s also no question that Stevens’ defense was helping the Cavs’ cause. The Cavs’ defensive rating was nearly 10 points better with Stevens on the court (111.9 drtg) than what the Cavs posted for the game (120.2 drtg). Also, where’s Dean Wade and Dylan Windler? With the Lakers running a lot of smaller lineups with Avery Bradley at guard and Anthony Davis at center, why not some quicker and agile guys such as Wade and Windler?

6. No rest for the weary

The Cavs have to travel to the Valley of the Sun to take on another Western Conference championship contender, Phoenix Suns less than 24 hours after dealing with LeBron James and the Lakers. If there ever was a time to be open to the idea of a moral victory, it’ll be tomorrow night if the Cavs look halfway competitive for the duration of the game. In any event and as always, GO CAVS!