Recap: Clippers 132, Cleveland 119 (or, “The Wall.”)

Welcome to Cavs after dark. I love the live thread subtitle by my boy Chris Francis. I’m trying to kick it old school tonight with a running diary ( I figure it’s the only way I can stay awake) and hey, I haven’t written in a while. So out of another weird afternoon home loss against the Magic, the Cavs start their five game west cost road trip. We’re live at the architectural monstrosity known as the Intuit dome. Evan Mobley looks like he’s playing…

We got the Golden Turd, James Harden, and Kawhi Leonard along with Norm Powell who’s having maybe the best year of his career, so the 38-30 Clips are no slouch. Im trying to think of more things to type, but all I can do is wait for this stupid game to start. There should be a rule that 10:30 start games must actually start at 10:30.

T-Lue is out, Jeff Van Gundy is out, and Brian Shaw is running the show for the Clips.

First Quarter

11:45 Max Strus runs the Korver Kurl and drains a triple from the top of the key then swishes another a play later from the left wing out of the double high stack.

11:00 Harden turds his way to the first free throw of the night. Gotta make him go right, Don.

10:15 after a Garland triple, Allen dances around Zubac for for a nifty lefty layup. If there’s a silver lining to Allen’s hand injury, it’s how much more adept he’s getting with the southpaw finish.

8:00 Three straight Mitchell possessions: a trey from too deep, a nice drive and dish to a cutting Mobley (welcome back), and then a catch and shoot draino from the left corner. Spida and his amazing friends definitely more focused tonight. Cavs up 16-9.

6:39 Can we talk about the Calvetta Brothers Floor show commercial for a minute?The basic premise: it’s a real/fake podcast about a family owned flooring business? It’s definitely got “have you listened to the latest episode of ‘the podcast’?” energy. Shoot me now.

6:06 Man in the second row of the baseline has a Bo Jackson Tecmo Bowl t-shirt. This is definitely not a Lakers’ crowd.

5:20 Cavs with yet another offensive rebound. This time it leads to a Garland three-ball.

4:30 Hunter heating up with two straight middies. (I hate that everyone is caling mid-range shots “middies” now). He’s gonna win a playoff game with that shot. His elbow pull-up is unblockable with its high release and perfect rotation.

3:13 Harden poops his way to two more freebies. Hunter does everything right, but leaves his feet when Harden goes to the right side. Mitchell gets it right back when he raises up for a Trae Young style “punish the guy aggressively going over the screen” three point try for three straight freebie makes.

2:45 Mobley steals it, goes coast to coast, then 2025 Tim Duncans for a nifty one legged bank shot. Good to have you back, Evan. The place wasn’t the same without you. Brian Shaw rage timeout with the Cavs up 33-23.  Meanwhile the Ken Ganley Kia lady’s skin is glowing with a hue not found in nature.

2:04 The Beard crosses up Merrill, bowel movements his way into contact, and gets to the line with the Cavs in the bonus. But Jerome goes right back at him to get to the line and make James eat some dry white dog poo. There might be a lot of poo references tonight.

0:43 a fast and furious pace here, but a welcome site: Sam Merrill splashes a triple! Basket after basket until finally Mitchell slings one to De’AnTrey who rises up like J.R. Smith looking to lay some pipe and laces a gorgeous triple with 2.6 remaining. Cavs up a defense optional 45-38. WHEW. Did I mention the Clips are the top defensive team in the association?

2nd Quarter

Did you know Mary J. Blige, Eric Clapton are coming to Rocket Arena (or whatever they’re calling it now)? I’ll take this commercial over the Disturbed concert ad that ran for two straight months.

11:15 DAYUM DM tries to save an offensive rebound and ends up nutmegging Bogdan Bogdanovic, helping Jerome walk into an and-1 layup.

10:30 Kawhi and Mitchell just trading threes and the Cavs miss first, and yet another triple sees Derrick Jones Jr. put the clips up 52-51. Cavs have 11 threes, and the Clippers eight already. Atkinson takes a timeout to ask for some defensive engagement.

9:08 We’re back from commercial and Isaac Okoro checks in. Somewhere, Chris Francis dies a little.

8:05 Now Mobley and Zubac are trading buckets before the Cavs finally string together a couple of stops around Mobley schooling everyone. The vibes are immaculate. Cavs up 3.

6:50 Mobley exits for Dean Wade, and CLF’s favorite two man lineup is live. Ice promptly turns it over, but then out of the short roll feeds Strus in the left corner for Maxie’s fourth triple.

5:15 Okoro does his best Collin Sexton impression getting blocked at the rim, but the good guys are getting stops. Field goal percentage for L.A. is finally under 60.  Garland executes an NBA2K style crossover that looks fake before skyballing a snatch back three from the right sideline. Filthy. Cavs up 63-57

4:50 These two squads are automatic on open threes tonight. Norm Powell drains another before grifting his way for a pair of freebies.

3:30 Okoro is so tentative on offense. Won’t attack at all and overpassing. He tries to thread the needle to JA and turns it over, but on D, Ice keeps steeling it back. Atkinson mercifully puts us out of our misery by bringing in Hunter who promptly isos his way to the elbow and extend the Cavs lead to 67-61

1:40 Zubac looks like he just got back from a smoke break, but has been asserting himself in the paint on both ends, and Allen misses a bunny.

1:22 Mitchell much better at spreading the ball around and finds Hunter in the right corner for ‘Dre’s 15th point. Hunter is 6-6 in the first half before a bullshit whistle calls sends him back to the bench with his third foul.

0:24 After Allen misses a pair at the line, Derrick Jones gets away with a travel and Harden bricks a trey that bounces in. This feels like one of those games where the free throw line is gonna come into play. Fortunately, Max goes 3-3 from there to close the half on a bad Batum closeout. Cavs up 73-68. We might be heading for a 150 burger, folks.

3rd Quarter

11:30 Kawhi bear hugs Garland for a steal, and no whistle. Crosses Garland up for a left wing triple. Meanwhile Cavs are getting a foul called every time they leave their feet, whether it’s a foul or not.

9:33 After Garland and Allen get clocked in the head, for no call, Leonard gets yet another cheapie call and Kenny Atkinson gets a tech for ref excoriation. Clips make all three and retake the lead 79-77

8:57 Garland fires a 45 foot laser to Strus as DG crosses half court, for a Maximum soft slam. Mobley drives to the line to the lane for two free throws to give the Cavs back the lead. The last team with the ball is gonna win this one.

8:01 Powell exaggerates some contact then kicks Chris Dunn in the face as Powell slides across the floor. Bloody nose for Dunn. This action was as dumb as it sounds.

7:40 Kawhi when healthy is as good of a player as there is in the association. He’s got 20 on eight shots. There’s an alternate timeline where the Cavs draft him instead of Tristan Thompson. That would be a fun episode of What If…

7:14 Garland draws a loose ball foul on Chris Dunn, then an and-1 on Chris Dunn. Chris Dunn is not happy. Kenny got his money’s worth with that tech.

6:00 It is 90-89 Cavs and the third quarter is halfway over. I picked the wrong game to write a running diary. Max Strus fouls trying to challenge Powell at the rim. Mad Max gets elbowed in the face. I’ll let Danny Cunningham describe the next few minutes.

The NBA needs to do all this crap from Secaucus. I want the last five minutes of my life back.

I missed NBA basketball to hear Disturbed yelll  “WA-A-A DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS!!!!!” (cue Daughtry) “It’s not OOOOOVER!” Never change Fox Sports Ohio…  Bally Sports… Fanduel Sports network.

4:30 Strus on an absolute heater. Hits two triples from the left corner, then gets a cutting layup for his 24th point. It appears Norman Powell’s elbow is a performance enhancer. A J.A. push shot on the p/r puts the Cavs up 100-95, and Brian Shaw calls timeout. I’m pretty sure this game was supplied by the white house pharmacist.

3:04 Kenny challenges an OOB call and we go to commercial for the 15th time this quarter. After an Ohio lottery commercial, the Cavs lose the challenge when the ball was obviously off Mobley. Atkinson is clearly up past his bedtime.

2:21 Los Angeles is eviscerating the Cavs’ zone. Zubac gets an easy shot, then Derrick Jones Jr.

1:40 Defensive rebounds are officially becoming a problem. Harden gets his own miss and scores to tie the game. He follows that up with his 10th and 11th free throws after whistle three seconds after the action.

0:32 Harden cooks Mobley for an easy layup. Either Evan forgot the Beard’s left handed or Ev’s just gassed. I’m betting on the latter. Clips up four on an 11-2 run. And now the Cavs are missing at the line as Ty misses two straight.

0:04 The Cavs with another late third quarter meltdown for the second game in a row. Jerome and Mitchell gotta get on the same page, and after the hero ball debacle, Sunday, Mitchell is over correcting and struggling from the field as he tries to playmake a bit too much instead of getting to his spots. Clips 106, Cavs 102

Fourth Quarter

11:00 I don’t love this Merrill, Jerome, Mitchell lineup. The shortest guy on the floor for L.A. is Bogdanovic. Cavs don’t have enough size, but I don’t want Okoro either.

9:30 Woof. Atkinson up past his bedtime tonight. First the dumb challenge in the late third, then he sticks with Merrill, Mitchell, Jerome lineup WAAAAY too long without a timeout, and now the Clippers are up 12 with nine minutes remaining.

9:15 Dean Wade intercepts a pass for a pick 6! Then Okoro gets a deflection and Garland finds Mitchell in transition. Quick timeout by Shaw. He’s been the better coach tonight, and he’s not taking any chances.

8:00 Another steal! Cavs miss two bunnies, but get bailed out by a moving screen by Batum and a tech after Bogdanovic’s three got waived off. But the Cavs can’t score…. or rebound. Two o-boards lead to a Zubac bucket as he carves out an eastern bloc nation in the paint for the umpteenth time tonight.

6:30 Okoro three! Garland crossover to the glass! Cavs up 119-113 with six to go.

5:21 Mitchell misses yet another middie and I’m mad at myself for typing “middie.” Spida’s now 5-17 and only Okoro has made a triple this quarter. Also, Cleveland has no answer for Zubac other than fouling or hoping he misses bunnies.

4:30 Hunter gets an and-1 but misses the Cavs seventh free throw to leave the Clippers lead at 121-115… and the Cavs are still frigid from deep.

3:30 Cleveland cannot stop general Zubac’s offensive in the key. He’s grabbing every Clipper miss and putting em back. Clips up eight.

3:10 Garland misses two open threes. The three point line is a wall. After Cleveland traps, the ball finds Harden, who makes the diff -10.

2:42 Mobley gifts the Clips fans a free food item by missing two straight freebies, and Leonard puts the Clips up 12. This may be a lost cause. Maybe it’s this stupid arena. They call this end “the wall” and the whole thing cost $2 billion. The wine and gold are adding a lot of bricks to it.

2:00 After a Mitchell dime, Kawhi drains a three in Garland’s eye to go up a baker’s dozen. The Clips are just better tonight. Bogdanovic seals the deal with an impossible runner out of a loose ball scramble. He finishes with 20/4/7, is perfect from the line and the field, and notches a game high +19. The Hawks traded this guy? They’re run by morons.

1:17 It’s probably a good thing for the Cavs to taste a little humble pie in these last two games, but it doesn’t feel that way at 1 AM. Despite forcing a turnover, Atkinson puts in the zoo crew. Clips stick with their starters just to give Zubac one more o-board to give him a 20-20 night. Clips win 132-119.

—

Despite 11 assists, this was another bad game by Mitchell from the field. He was 5-18 and -19. Evan was -27, and the Cavs played some dumb defense when he was in. The Kawhi/Bogey/Derrick Jones/Zubac lineups killed the Cavs. It didn’t matter who the fifth guy was. The Cavs got in a shootout early and couldn’t win the possession game, and tightened up when they got open looks after the Clippers’ D tightened the screws.

The Mitchell, Merrill, Jerome lineup was a dumpster fire again to close the third and open the fourth. Brian Shaw rightly calculated that they can’t deal with size when the Cavs go iso-heavy with those guys. I get the Cavs respecting their rotations, but in a road back-to-back you want to take at least one game. Giving Hunter just 20 minutes and Merrill 13 will feel like a mistake if the Cavs can’t get it done against the Kings tomorrow.

The Cavs wasted a beautiful night from Max Strus who dropped a team leading 24, but only played 26 minutes. It was also telling that after scoring his 24th point in the late third, the Cavs didn’t use his gravity to run their offense in yet another example of being unable to feed the hot hand. You have to think Max could’ve probably played another five minutes, and no three point attempts in the fourth feels pretty bone-headed by the coaches and guards.

Garland was solid with 17 and eight assists, tying Allen for a team high +8. The offense worked when he was in, cause the way he plays, he forces more screen action. He’s not as much of an iso player. He just puts the Cavs into motion more. Allen unfortunately just couldn’t contain Zubac’s monster 28 points and 20 rebounds (8 offensive). The big Croation got all the bounces down the stretch and just out-muscled every Cav for position.

As Atkinson noted in the post-game, the Clippers executed elite shot-making, ending up canning 55% to the Cavs 49% and 46% to the Cavs 34% from deep. L.A. outplayed them. More concerning was seven more made free throws, as the Cavs missed a ton down the stretch and the 54-43 rebound disadvantage.

Finally, the Claw. Kawhi Leonard looked in his prime scratching his way 33/7/4 and four steals. He was unstoppable from every part of the floor on offense, Gotta hope the Cavs bounce back tomorrow. See you then (maybe – it’s now 2:00 AM here). Go Cavs.