The Land on Demand

Game Night Observations: Lackluster Effort And An Incomplete Comeback

Cavaliers swingman Caris LeVert at the team's media day.

Cavaliers swingman Caris LeVert at the team's media day.

Game Night Observations: Lackluster effort and an incomplete comeback

As of Monday, December 12, 2022

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 Danny Cunningham covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for 850 ESPN Cleveland and TheLandOnDemand.com

On Monday night in San Antonio the Cleveland Cavaliers put forth one of their worst efforts of the season against the Spurs in a 112-111 loss.
There have been games the Cavaliers have lost – primarily on the road – where the team just doesn’t make open shots. Monday night wasn’t one of those nights.

Monday night was an example of what it looks like when an NBA team doesn’t put forth enough effort to win a road game in the NBA. Monday night looked as if the Cavs expected to win the game against the Spurs not by outplaying them, outhustling them, or out-scheming them, but rather by just showing up when the ball was put into the air for the opening tip. The Cavaliers looked like a team that expected to win just because they’re the Cavaliers.

By doing all of that, the Cavaliers earned the loss handed to them by the Spurs.
The first half for the Cavs was one of the worst they’ve played this season and included the Spurs going on an 18-2 run after the game was tied at 37 early in the period.

Sure, the team staged a furious comeback in the fourth quarter, but against a team like the Spurs, that shouldn’t be part of the equation for a team with goals that the Cavs have.

The sense of urgency was there late in the game, but it was nonexistent for the first half and only barely there in the third quarter. That’s not going to get it done against any team in the NBA, as evidenced on Monday. The Cavaliers have no one to blame but themselves for this loss. They allowed San Antonio to collect 19 offensive rebounds that led to 21 second chance points for the Spurs, with 19 of them coming in the first three quarters.

The fourth quarter did show a glimpse of what the Cavaliers should have been the entire night. They outscored San Antonio 33-20 in the final period of the game. Donovan Mitchell made superstar plays on his way to a game-high 28 points, Caris LeVert chipped in off the bench, Isaac Okoro made huge plays defensively, and the Cavs as a whole were enforcing their will as they crawled back.

At the end, the ball just didn’t bounce the Cavs way, and truthfully, they didn’t deserve for it to after the first three quarters.

Road woes continue

The loss drops the Cavaliers to 5-9 on the road so far this season. They’ve now lost eight of their last nine games away from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. At some point, the Cavaliers are going to have to figure out how to win games that take place somewhere other than at home. They’re awfully tough to beat at home, but seem allergic to winning on the road.

Teams are rarely, if ever, going to be as good on the road as they are at home. It’s a normal thing to be lesser on the road, but this discrepancy between the two is mildly alarming for the Cavs.

Monday night against a team that entered the night tied for last place in the Western Conference looked like a good place on the schedule for the Cavs to hammer out some of their road woes, instead it seemed to highlight everything that’s caused them difficulty.

The good news for the Cavs, is that there’s a six-game home stand approaching later in the month of December for the team. The bad news is that their next game is in Dallas against Luka Doncic and the Mavericks.

On the bright side

The best news to take away from this game from a Cavs perspective is that LeVert was really good for the third consecutive game. In fact, of his last three games, this was the best one he’s played. In the two prior games, LeVert scored 22 points in each despite not being overly efficient. Monday, LeVert scored 23 points off the pine for the Cavs on a very efficient 9-of-12 from the floor. When he was on the floor, the Cavs outscored the Spurs by 14 points.

LeVert isn’t going to be this player every single night. Throughout his career he’s been rather inconsistent, but getting this type of performance from him a few games in a row is something that should be very encouraging for the Cavs.

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