Recap: Cavs 106, Grizzlies 110 (or, Waiting for Rondo)

Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies found themselves in Cleveland on Tuesday, trying to extend a five-game winning streak. Their main obstacle was Cavs point guard Darius Garland, whose return to the lineup in extended minutes restored Cleveland’s offensive identity. Garland dazzled with 27 points and 10 assists. The Cavs frontcourt were able to hold serve against the Memphis bigs, with Love, Mobley, Markkanen and Allen all performing well. As in their December home game against the Jazz, the Cavs showed they could threaten an elite Western conference team, but again faltered in the final two minutes.  Production at the shooting guard position was the obvious weak point, with Brandon Goodwin, the recent 10-day hardship exception pickup at guard, giving up an easy turnover to Morant with 22 seconds left that sealed the Memphis win.

The Cavs came out with a strong first quarter, with Darius and Kevin Love splashing a trio of threes and Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley doing damage inside against Grizzlies bigs Steven Adams and Jaren Jackson Jr.. Allen was particularly pleased to have Darius back on the court. The starting Cavs center went 5-7 in the first quarter and ended the game with a double-double. Allen looked every bit the All Star, ending the game with 22 points on 11-14 shooting, 12 rebounds, two assists, a steal, and three rejections.

Cleveland set the tone early and edged Memphis on the offensive glass, a metric where the Grizzlies lead the league.

In the second quarter Cleveland’s hot shooting cooled slightly, and the Grizzlies went on a 13-0 run to end the half. Power forward Brandon Clarke and guard Tyus Jones frustrated the Cavs with drives and floaters, and Jaren Jackson Jr. uncorked several of his unconventionally flat threes. Clarke is in his third year, and pairs well with Jones, a Minnesota high school phenom with a top-ranking assist-turnover ratio that has kept him in the league since 2014.

With Isaac Okoro injured and Rajon Rondo on the bench but not yet suited up, the limitations to Cleveland’s improvised solutions at shooting guard became more apparent in the second half. Lamar Stevens was one obvious answer, Dylan Winder provided some speed and defensive length, and Goodwin was hustling throughout. Nevertheless in 15 minutes of combined playing time in the second quarter, the J.B.’s trio of Stevens-Windler-Goodwin got the Cavs a single point and two rebounds.

Lamar Stevens at least played good defense on Desmond Bane, his main assignment for the night, to a modest 11 points. However, he was not without his miscues in the third quarter and the Grizzlies defenders were happy to sag off of him in the corner on several offensive possessions. Feeling good on defense after helping to force a Mobley block, Stevens went flat-footed in no-mans-land instead of closing out on a Killian Tillie three. (Does anyone remember Rubio’s insatiable perimeter rotations on the defensive end? It wasn’t just the “floor general” that made Cleveland so good when he was on the court.) Stevens lost his handle on a couple of trips through the lane, his shot was not falling, and J.B. benched him for the duration of the fourth quarter.

The third quarter seemed to be defined by defense and scrambled sequences, with each teams making only six baskets. On one especially random sequence that was more volleyball than basketball, Dylan Winder sank a three, benefitting from a wild backward-leaping Kevin Love pass from half court. Windler was also the subject of a coach’s challenge that Cleveland lost.

Brandon Goodwin kept with the theme of the quarter and clanked two free throws. But the Cavs held on defensively, showing Morant a sea of arms and hands and holding the Memphis guard to 1-7 shooting in the third.

Darius Garland played the entire fourth quarter, showing some fatigue (0-4 from three) but remaining composed, making his free throws, and dishing out more assists. Down the stretch the Cavs got timely threes from Kevin Love, Dylan Windler, and Lauri Markkanen. Cleveland desperately needed a bucket with 1:53 to go, and Markkanen delivered from distance. He has been doing fantastic work inside, and had an absolute smasher of a drive and dunk early in the game, so fingers crossed that he’ll start edging up toward his career three point average of 36%.

J.B.’s decision to go with Brandon Goodwin for the last five minutes at the shooting guard position caused some scratching of heads.

JB's worst coached game of the year: terrible substitutions, not calling timeouts to stop a big run, critical turnovers in oob plays, and bad challenges. Hope he improves next game.

— HoopsDogg (@oldseaminer) January 5, 2022

One comment from Leo on the C:tB live thread put it succinctly:

Props to that G-league dude trying his best but if that is only option as backup guard or two guard then you wont win. Case in point the turnover at end that sealed the win for Grizz by Ja.

The closest any media got to questioning the late-game coaching was Bally Sports new sideline reporter Serena Winters, asking J.B. what happened in the final two minutes to get Memphis the win. In his postgame comments Jarrett Allen said “we all saw what happened with the pass” (referring to Goodwin’s miscue), and the Plain Dealer’s Joe Noga didn’t mention Goodwin at all, focusing his game recap instead on the happier story of Darius Garland’s return.

Given that J.B. is newly minted with a contract, the Cavs guard rotation has been literally torn and sprained into shreds, and coach was working with spare parts in this game, perhaps it’s best just to move on. Fingers crossed that Rajon Rondo, who was very impressive in his Cavs media debut, is indeed the answer.