The Cleveland Cavaliers’ slow start doomed them as they fell to the Houston Rockets 114-104.
This was Cleveland’s sixth loss of the season. It took until Jan. 16 to pick up their sixth loss last season. What
a difference a year makes.
The Cavs haven’t had many measuring stick games this season. This was one, and they failed. Right now, the Cavaliers aren’t in the same tier as the Rockets.
Houston is a good team and a particularly tough matchup for Cleveland. This was evident last season, as they handed the Cavaliers losses in both games they played. The Rockets have improved since then. They’ve doubled down on their strengths and are better off for it.
Even though this was a tough matchup for the Cavs, it’s clear that there’s a significant gap separating these two teams that wasn’t reflected in the final score.
The Rockets know who they want to be on both sides of the ball. And their players buy in, as seen on Wednesday. The Cavs aren’t there yet.
This isn’t to say that the Cavaliers won’t get to that level at some point. They just aren’t close right now.
It’s difficult to stop the Rockets’ offensive rebounding. Instead of selling out to do so, head coach Kenny Atkinson wanted his team to focus on what they did best.
“We’re gonna fight, and we’re gonna bring the fight to them,” Atkinson said before the game. “But we gotta think, ‘What’s our strength?’
Right now, it’s difficult to tell what their strengths are. There are things Atkinson wants his team’s identity to be. The Cavs aspire to be a modern, movement-based offense that wins the possession battle by generating turnovers, cleaning the glass, and hitting threes. We’ve seen those ideals for brief stretches, but not in a sustained enough way to say that this is something that they can hang their hats on every night.
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The Cavs have won or lost based on the strength of their three-point shot. This was true last season as they went 6-6 in games they shot under 31% from three and 58-12 when they shot over. Those numbers include going 31-4 when they shot 40% or better from beyond the arc.
Wednesday’s loss was already the fifth time the Cavs have shot under 31% from three so far this season in 16 games. They’re now 2-3 when they do so.
Atkinson mentioned that the Cavs’ shot quality was in the “91st percentile” after the game. He’s said similar things after other losses this season. I’m not sure if that’s a sign that the Cavs will progress up to their baseline at some level. But as of now, it’s difficult to be an outside shooting team that is 18th in three-point percentage (34.9%) after being second last season (38.3%).
Donovan Mitchell wasn’t able to save the Cavs. He scored just two points through the first three quarters thanks to Houston’s imposing starting lineup of players 6’8” or taller. They blitzed him and forced the ball out of his hands. His teammates weren’t able to pick up the slack.
Mitchell rebounded by scoring 19 points in the fourth quarter to nearly pull off the comeback, but this does speak to a larger issue. Mitchell’s lack of size makes it easier to get the ball out of his hands and neutralize some of his scoring ability compared to bigger players. Teams have consistently done this against him in the playoffs. And so far, neither he nor his team has had an answer for that after the first round.
To his credit, Mitchell did the right thing on Wednesday by getting the ball out to his teammates. They just didn’t reward him for doing so.
Nae’Qwan Tomlin and Craig Porter Jr.‘s energy is infectious. The Cavs were stuck in the mud for the first two and a half quarters. They were missing shots, got beaten up on the glass, and were simply not being the aggressors. Tomlin and Porter did their part to change that.
Tomlin provided that by attacking the basket and even got into a shoving match with Jabari Smith Jr. Porter got the Cavs going by cleaning the glass and attacking in transition.
Guys like Porter, Tomlin, and Jaylon Tyson (who missed this game with a concussion) shouldn’t be standing out this much from an effort standpoint. The veterans should be setting that standard. They aren’t, which is part of the reason why the Cavaliers have had such a disappointing start.
The Cavaliers don’t have it right now. Injuries and playing 15 games in 27 days play a significant part in this.
However, that doesn’t explain everything. The attention to detail isn’t there on a nightly basis. They have enough talent to get by in most matchups, but they don’t every night, especially when Mitchell and Evan Mobley aren’t at the top of their game.
November results don’t mean much in the long run. At the same time, this team hasn’t accomplished anything meaningful in the playoffs and thus hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt. It’s unreasonable to expect a team that has consistently underperformed in the postseason to be able to turn it around in the playoffs after a disappointing regular season.
The regular season still does matter for this group. They need to use these games as an opportunity to build chemistry, good habits, and confidence. There’s still time to do so, but we’re coming up on the quarter point of the season without any meaningful strides forward. That will need to change at some point if they want to change their postseason fortunes.
