Recap: Cleveland 114, Portland 101 (or, Gone in 60 Seconds)

Darius “the Closer” Garland’s and Cedi Osman’s fourth quarter heroics propelled Cleveland to their first win in Portland since 2013. Facing a depleted yet feisty Blazers squad, the Cavs overcame five Blazers in double digits with a 32-21 fourth quarter scoring edge led by Cedi Osman’s four triples in the frame, Mobley and Garland’s eight-point quarters, and Jarret Allen’s six rebounds. After leading by 11 the Blazers had cut the Cavs’ lead to just five with three minutes left before the magic happened, and the Cavs blew away the Blazers in the span of one minute.

After Nassir Little and Normal Powell hit ridiculous triples for the Blazers to go on a quick 6-0 run to make it five, the Cavs worked the offense and fed an open Cedi Osman in the left corner for a splashdown triple. Cedi then picked Anfernee Simons’ pocket as he crossed half-court, pushed the break, and hit a trailing Garland. Darius caught Robert Covington in no-man’s-land with a Michael Bay slow motion feed over Robert’s head to Evan Mobley for a soft-slam oop. As if that weren’t enough, The Closer noticed the subsequent inbounds pass rolling lazily among three dyspeptic Blazers, sprinted 30 feet to steal the ball from the three unaware, fought off Covington, and laid up a running left-handed no-gather scoop Ricky Rubio style before Nurkic swatted the ball away off the backboard for an easy goaltending call. A rage tech from Anfernee Simons put the Cavs up 13 with 2:08 left, effectively ending the game. Somewhere, Nicolas Cage was cackling.

Though Simons answered with a triple of his own, Darius swished a ridiculous stepback skyball against a confused pair of Blazers to make it 13 again before forcing a back-court from Anfernee Simons on the ensuing possession and ensuring the Cavs covered the spread. This Cavs team can definitely step on the accelerator.

It was very nice to see Cedi Osman back from Covid protocols, and though he had a quiet first half, his shooting was a welcome boon to the Cavs who’d struggled to add scoring punch in fourth quarters of late.

Rajon Rondo made his debut for Cleveland late in the first quarter and showed some decent chemistry with Kevin Love. He also proved a willing shooter, launching eight triples in just under 17 minutes, but sadly he only made a pair of them. There’s a reason he was open. Despite going 2-9 on the night, he got to the line and finished with 11/5/3. He also looked a damned site more competent than Kevin Pangos.

Kevin Love finished with 8/7/2 in a ho-hum game, but he definitely did do a nice job on the boards in the first half. Still, Cleveland gave up 16 offensive rebounds on the night – something they definitely need to clean up. Rounding out the bench crew, Dylan Windler pitched in a nice 10 minutes with a pair of triples and some solid defense. It was nice to see a nine-man rotation from JB.

As for the starters, Lamar Stevens played just 17 minutes and finished 1-5 from the field. He is wearing a back brace when on the bench, and I’m wondering if he’s 100%. The rest of the starters were solid as a rock, though. Even though Evan Mobley struggled on the boards against the burly Yusef Nurkic, Nassir Little, and Cody Zeller, he was an absolute garbage man around the basket, bailing out Cleveland time and again with putbacks, difficult catches and finishes, and just an absolutely great feel for when to pump fake and when to go up strong as he just kept putting the ball in the bucket for 18/8/3 along with three stocks and zero fouls in 34 minutes. The dude is just one of the most instinctive 20-year-olds I’ve ever watched.

Lauri Markkanen struggled in the first quarter being in the right place on offense or defense, but got better as the game progressed, and finished with a quietly solid game. The Big Finnish is just good enough as a shooter that you have to account for him, and he’s good enough at putting the ball on the floor that you have to account for him. He’s just good enough of a defender that you have to account for him. He’s the kind of seven-foot generalist that allows him to plug into three positions and play as an above average level starter. He finished with 15/1/5 two stocks, and zero turnovers and +13 on the night.

If Darius is the “head” of this team, then Jarrett Allen is the backbone. It’s difficult to quantify how good he was this game, but Allen completely controlled the game defensively, was consistently in the right location, and was a constant threat around the basket. He put in 13/13/1 and was a game high +16. By the end of the game Jusef Nurkic (14/12/4) was completely demoralized by Allen and Tower City’s constant activity, basket pressure, and defense. It’s telling that Nurkic shot 5-17 while Allen dialed in 5-6. Jarrett Allen raises the play of everyone on the floor when he’s in.

Darius Garland, AKA “The Closer” made so many ridiculous plays down the stretch, it’s hard to describe them all, but check out the steal and the ridiculous jump pass to Markkenan. Garland’s finally trusting his stepback J and not afraid to let it fly when teams go under or sag off him. He also had the mid-range game going in this one, getting his team difficult buckets when they needed them. It was also nice to see him trying to work off-ball when paired with Rondo. That is just going to get better as they figure each other out. Garland consistently got the best of Powell and Simons on offense and defense, finishing 26/1/6 with three turnovers as they combined to shoot 11-29 and had to work really hard for most of their shots.

Notes

• The Cavs switch so well, and honestly the Blazers hit a lot of lucky three-point shots against good closeouts to make it as close as they did late. What also kept the Blazers in the game was the aforementioned rebounding, with a 51-43 advantage, basically led by doubling up the o-boards (16-8) over Cleveland.
• The Blazers’ bench would have made for a good game of “who he play for?” with the likes of CJ Ellerby, Trendon Watford, and Dennis Smith Jr.
• Cleveland’s been taking care of the ball of late: averaging just under seven turnovers a game over the last four – an impressive stat given the shuffling lineups.
• It was nice to see Cleveland punch the gas late and keep this one from being in doubt. Having to not rely on G and Euro leaguers helps.
• Cleveland got to the line 29 times to the Blazers’ 19, and both teams struggled, with the Cavs 66% and Portland 58%. Even Kevin Love had an 0-2 trip. I hope that picks up.
• It was nice to see Cleveland prolific and productive from deep: 13-39. I’m loving the “shoot when open” mentality by everyone.
• The Blazers are a mess. They look demoralized. Chauncey was a terrible hire, the guy that hired him is gone, and I fully expect Portland to blow up this squad by the trade deadline. I’d love to see C.J. McCollum come back from a collapsed lung for the Cavs, but Robert Covington and Norman Powell would also look good in Cavs unis.
• The big matchup is Sunday against the Dubs in Klay’s first game back from injury. Both teams are proof that tanking works as they’ve both taken big steps forward this year. I would LOVE to see the Cavs surprise Steph and Co., but they seem to be really getting up for this one, having rested Curry and Dray. I just want to see it be competitive and the defense stay good throughout. See you then.