Coach Bickerstaff Calls Out Garland & Mitchell Following Frustrating Cavs Loss

Thursday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets was a game of what could have (and very well should have) been for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Cleveland took a two point lead on the West’s top team heading into the fourth quarter. And few players were as instrumental to Cleveland hanging tough as Evan Mobley. The big man erupted through three quarters, notching 31 points heading into the final frame.

And then . . . he went scoreless to close the game. The former USC big managed just two shots, both misses.

After the game, coach Bickerstaff appeared to lay the blame on the team’s two guards tasked with getting the ball to Mobley – Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland.

“The ball’s got to find (Mobley) and we have to do the right thing,” Bickerstaff said, per Chris Fedor of cleveland.com. “Thought there were opportunities for the ball to find him and it didn’t.”

As Fedor noted, Mobley’s explosive night wasn’t entirely surprising. The Nuggets are one of the league’s worst teams defending the post; Denver is allowing opposing teams a 71.2% conversion rate at the hoop, second-worst in the league.

It’s exactly the type of matchup the Cavaliers should relish, given that the team owns the league’s third-best conversion rate at the rim, per Cleaning the Glass.

And for three quarters, the Cavaliers executed that gameplan perfectly. But the Cavaliers’ inefficiency in crunchtime continued haunting them late.

---

Mitchell Takes Blame for Mobley’s Quiet Quarter

Mitchell didn’t need Bickerstaff’s prodding postgame. He freely acknowledged that the buck stops with him and Garland.

“That can’t happen,” Mitchell said after the loss. “That starts with myself and Darius (Garland). We’ve got to get Ev the ball. He was the leader the whole game offensively and he can’t finish the game with 31 points after three quarters. That’s on us.”

If there’s one area for concern on this Cavs team, it’s their lingering weaknesses in the clutch. Defined as how well a team does in a game within five points in the final five minutes, clutch can be an excellent indicator of how well a team performs when the stakes are highest.

And the Cavs are below average in that regard. Their 8.4 clutch points per game is tied for 17th in the league with the Nets and Pistons. Their clutch assists sit around the same mark — 1.4 and tied for 17th in the league, a shade lower than the Philadelphia 76ers, who rely on isolation and hero ball as much as anyone down the stretch.

That assist figure was on particular display Thursday. With the game knotted late, the Cavs reverted back to putting the rock in Mitchell and Garland’s hands and hoping they’d beat a man on the way to the rim.

Some nights, that’s a fine tact. But when the Cavaliers face off against one of the worst paint-presence teams in the league, Mitchell’s exactly right: forgetting about the team’s two dominant bigs “can’t happen.”

---

Okoro Struggles Re-Emerging for the Cavs

One of the biggest decisions the Cavs faced at the deadline was whether to move recent lottery pick Isaac Okoro. His inconsistency has been maddening at times, yet the Cavs ultimately decided to stand pat with Okoro.

And for good reason — in 11 games between January 21 and February 10, Okoro had seemed to find his shot. He was up to 9.1 points per game on 41% from three over that stretch.

It was just enough of a show to keep the Cavs’ front office from dealing the former Auburn Tiger.

Over his last four games, however, Okoro’s efficiency has plummeted. He’s down to 4.8 points per game on 25% from three.

Against the Nuggets on Thursday, Okoro put on yet another vanishing act, finishing with just two points in 20 minutes of work.

0 Comments