CLEVELAND, Ohio – After being beaten by a horde of playoff teams last month, Sunday night should be different.
Emphasis on should be. Only it wasn’t. Only the well-known desperate performance for the Cleveland Cavaliers, losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder by 117-101. It is Cleveland’s tenth straight loss and 14th in the last 16 games.
Finally, Cavs was playing against a comparable opponent – the reconstructor Thunder, also one of the youngest teams in the league who entered the defeat night of six of the last seven. These are the games in which the Cavs must be able to compete. These are the teams that the Cavs should be able to beat, providing a reasonable measure.
Cleveland led 20-10 at one point early Sunday night, looking like a renewed group. That quick start quickly disappeared. Shortly after the initial explosion, the Cavs started mixing up their reserves, Thunder eliminated the lead and Cleveland never recovered. At one point in the fourth quarter, Oklahoma City’s leadership exploded to 20 points.
It is one thing to be defeated by the champions of the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers or Milwaukee Bucks – the strong opponents during this relentless stretch. But the thunder?
“I thought I was lost in the physicality department,” said Cavs coach JB Bickerstaff. “We just have to be better. We have to make open shots to survive. We have to protect ourselves better and be more physical. We have to be better. “
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, selected a few spots after Collin Sexton in the 2018 NBA Draft, led all of the top scorers with 31 points out of 9 out of 15 shots, 3 out of 3 in the 3 and 10 out of 12 on the dirty line. This performance will not help to silence the chorus of fans who believe the Cavs should have taken the six-foot guard instead of Sexton a few years ago.
Veteran stabilizer Al Horford scored 16 points and eight rebounds. Oklahoma City, 29th in the attack this season, hit 54.4% of the field and 46.4% beyond the hoop.
Sexton scored 27 points from 11 of 22 shots for the Cavs, who had four of the five holders who reached double digits. Jarrett Allen added the best 26 points of his career, hitting all 11 attempts at kicking and catching 17 hits. Darius Garland had 21 points.
Cavs beginners were not the main problem. It was his horrid, rough-cut bench. Oklahoma City’s second unit surpassed Cleveland’s reserves, 42-9.
Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr., Taurean Prince and Andre Drummond – Cleveland’s four highest-paid players – were all marginalized, sitting on the sweatshirt bench watching their teammates collapse without them.
These absences created a domino effect, forcing Bickerstaff to dig deeper. The losses of Nance, Love and Prince meant that Cedi Osman moved forward. The Cavs did not have enough production from that location on Friday – and so did Thunder again two nights later.
Osman scored six points, Lamar Stevens scored two and Dylan Windler, forced to take that position from time to time out of necessity, made a basket.
Those expensive minutes – and a weakened second unit – played the biggest role in preventing the Cavs from a victory they desperately needed.
“No one is coming to rescue us,” said Bickerstaff. “Nobody is coming to rescue us. The rest of the league doesn’t care about our streak. They see us as an opportunity to get it right now. And we have to find that courage and determination where we really draw the line in the sand and not only hold the line, but move forward and cross the line. That is the only way for you to get out of this. “
3-point disparity
The Cavs pledged to shoot 3 more points. It’s a good start. But doing them is another problem. They were 8 out of 35 in the background. Osman went from 0 to 8, Sexton only 1 out of 6. Thunder, in turn, was 13 out of 28.
Next
The Cavs will continue their homestand on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Hawks. The complaint is at 19h
–
New Cavs face masks for sale: This is where you can buy Cleveland Cavaliers themed facial covers for coronavirus protection, including a single mask ($ 14.99) and a pack of 3 ($ 24.99). All NBA proceeds donated to charities.
More Cavaliers coverage
Kevin Love still not ready for game action after calf pain
Dellavedova undergoes appendectomy on Saturday
Sexton agrees to shoot 3 more points
Cavaliers have no answers for Jamal Murray’s 50-point night as the Nuggets roll
Within Isaac Okoro’s plan: ‘Throw him to the wolves’ and watch him grow
NBA All-Star Captains: It’s LeBron James (again) vs. Kevin Durant
Dissecting a bad, bad trip for the Cavaliers: Podcast