The Cavaliers defense remains an issue.
The Cleveland Cavaliers couldn’t stop the Houston Rockets as they fell 135-131. Cleveland has now lost three games in a row for the first time this season.
Grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.
Donovan Mitchell
33 points (11-27 shooting), 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals
Mitchell scored eight quick points, then was missing in action for the rest of the half when the Rockets asserted their will. He bounced back with a strong second half, but the deficit was too much by the time he got it going again.
The Cavs are more reliant on Mitchell’s scoring punch and energy than they were earlier in the season. That’s a sign that this team isn’t functioning as optimally as you’d like it to be.
Mitchell fought hard in the second half and played the entire fourth. His 14 points and 7 assists in the final frame were a big reason why the Cavs were able to mount the comeback they did. So it wasn’t a bad game by any stretch. The Cavaliers just needed more tonight in the second quarter when things got away from them.
Grade: B
Evan Mobley
7 points (3-8 shooting), 8 rebounds, 1 assist
This very much looked like Mobley’s first game after not playing for over a week. He had a tough time fitting in offensively and wasn’t able to be the impactful defender the team needed. That’s to be expected for someone coming back from a calf injury.
Grade: C-
Darius Garland
39 points (14-22 shooting), 9 assists, 3 rebounds
This was another outstanding game from Garland. His ability to control the offense while effectively finding avenues to score has led to him being one of the best point guards in the entire league.
Garland was also effective in the clutch and nailed two free throws with under two minutes left to tie the game. It wasn’t the exact same situation as Wednesday, but it was good to see him overcome that challenge here today. This was on top of scoring a game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter on 5-8 shooting.
Grade: A
Jarrett Allen
8 points (4-5 shooting), 5 rebounds, 2 assists
The Cavs needed more rebounding, but they couldn’t trust Allen to close the game. Maybe that was the wrong move. That said, Allen didn’t do anything to warrant closing the game.
Grade: D-
Max Strus
14 points (6-8 shooting), 9 rebounds, 4 assists
Strus showed some life in his first game as a starter. He hit some key shots during the comeback and played the whole fourth quarter.
This was the type of game the Cavs needed from Strus.
Grade: B+
Georges Niang
21 points (7-9 shooting), 4 rebounds, 1 assist
The defense was bad. There’s no sugarcoating it. Niang got bullied on the glass and putting him in a zone where he has to continually rotate out to shooters on the corner and the wing is just asking for trouble. But he did the one thing he was in there to do.
Niang made his shots. Ultimately, that’s something you can live with on a night no one on the Cavs decided to play any level of defense.
Grade: B-
Ty Jerome
6 points (1-8 shooting), 3 assists, 4 rebounds
This wasn’t a good Jerome game. That happens. The three-point shots that he couldn’t miss on Friday weren’t going in on Saturday.
Grade: C-
Sam Merrill
3 points (1-3 shooting), 2 rebounds, 2 assists
Merrill’s ability to generate three-point attempts has completely abandoned him. That, more than not being able to hit them, has made him tough to play. That was the case again as he generated just three looks and canned one in over 17 minutes of play.
Grade: F
Tristan Thompson
0 points (0-0 shooting), 0 rebounds, 0 assists
Thompson was forced into duty due to Allen’s foul trouble in the third quarter. He did his part. It could’ve been better, but he wasn’t the reason the Cavs lost this one.
Grade: C
Craig Porter Jr.
0 points (0-1 shooting), 1 rebound
Atkinson gave Porter the minutes Jaylen Tyson was getting the past few games. Porter didn’t reward him for doing so as he struggled to make a positive impact on either end.
Grade: C-
Kenny Atkinson
Decided to hack-a-Steven-Adams at the end of the third quarter
Atkinson has had his finger on the pulse all season. The zany moves that he’s made have almost all worked out. That streak ended tonight.
The Cavaliers finally found life as they cut an 18-point deficit into a five-point hole at the end of the third quarter. The offense was humming and the building had juice in it for the first time all evening. Then, Atkinson completely pulled the plug.
He decided to foul a career 53.2% free-throw shooter two possessions in a row. Adams made three out of four. The Cavs’ offensive flow completely went away as Houston outscored Cleveland 15-4 in the final two-and-a-half minutes of the third. This was absolutely disastrous and unnecessary to do for a Cavaliers team that had a good thing going.
This was also as big of an admission as you could have that he doesn’t trust this defense. Even against a team that came into this game 25th in half-court offensive rating.
There were other questionable decisions that didn’t help. The zone defense that makes it easier for teams to generate threes and get offensive rebounds is an issue that needs to be addressed at some point. Deciding to close with Niang over Allen when you were getting killed on the glass certainly came back to bite them as Houston got two crucial offensive rebounds in the final two minutes.
Atkinson has been absolutely phenomenal all season. This doesn’t detract from that. But the moves he’s made today didn’t help his team win.
Grade: F