Game Night Observations: Running out of gas and looking at the schedule ahead
You must have an active subscription to read this story.
Click Here to subscribe Now!
Danny Cunningham covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for 850 ESPN Cleveland and thelandondemand.comThe Cleveland Cavaliers have not yet had a road trip consisting of three games of more and returned to Cleveland with a winning trip. The team had a chance to change that on Friday night in Oklahoma City but lost to the Thunder 112-100.
It’s been written before that not all losses are created equally. The Cavs have had a handful of really bad losses this season, but this isn’t one that qualifies as such. It was a game in which the team fought hard but appeared to run out of gas late in the game. With the team on the second night of a back-to-back – winning Thursday night in Houston – it wasn’t something that was shocking to see, especially with All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell sidelined.
The Cavs had moments on Friday night where things looked really good. They had built a lead as large as seven points in the third quarter, but seemingly hit a wall and couldn’t recover. The Cavs led Oklahoma City 78-71 with 2:02 left in the third but were outscored 41-22 over the last 14 minutes of the game.
It looked like a team that had run out of gas after playing in a different city the night before. That appeared to be evidenced in the first half by the number of missed wide open shots generated offensively and then by essentially falling apart on both ends of the floor late in the game.
When thinking of bad losses, the Cavs have had this season, a number of games come to mind. The loss last Friday night at home against the Golden State Warriors is at the top of the list, followed by the home loss to Sacramento, on the road against the Clippers, and in San Antonio against the Spurs. This game certainly falls behind those and at least a couple of more. It’s not as if anyone inside the organization will be happy about this loss, but it’s also not a loss that’s so deflating that it should evoke the feeling of impending doom surrounding the team, either.
It's difficult to win games on the road in the NBA. Look no further than Cleveland’s record of 10-16 in away games this season. It’s an even bigger challenge to win road games on the second night of a back-to-back while a player of Mitchell’s caliber is sidelined. The Cavs going 1-2 on this trip isn’t good enough, certainly, but the worse of the two losses the team was handed happened Tuesday night in New York.
What these losses have done, however, is put increased pressure on the team to take care of business at home. The Cavs play their next three games at home, and they’re all big games. They’re in action Sunday against a surging Clippers team, although it will be the back end of a road back-to-back for LA. After that the Cavs will have what is arguably the biggest game of the season to date, as the Miami Heat are in town on Tuesday night. Miami wakes up on Saturday morning just 1.5 games behind the Cavs for fifth place in the Eastern Conference. That stretch then wraps up against the Memphis Grizzlies at home to open up a much easier month of February.
The bright spots
For the second straight game, Evan Mobley put forth a great performance on the offensive end of the floor and showed flashes of what he can be when he reaches his full potential. He finished the night with 23 points, doing much of his damage in the first half. He opened up the game making 8-of-10 from the floor before halftime but wasn’t able to get going in the second half.
Mobley did hit a pair of 3-pointers, the first time he’s made a shot from behind the arc since Dec. 17 and the first time he’s hit multiple threes in a game since Dec. 10. That’s certainly a welcomed sign that he could be coming out of a lengthy slump from that area.
Even if he is, the outside shot might not be what he need to do next to further his development. What he showed on Friday night that was most encouraging may have been the aggression towards the rim in the first half. Maybe that’s something that can’t always be there when the Cavs are at full strength, but it’s something that would certainly be a positive for the team if Mobley did more of it.
Point guard Darius Garland also had a big night for the Cavs, finishing with 31 points and 13 assists in the loss.
Another schedule quirk
January hasn’t been a banner month for the Cavs, to say the least. With two games left in the month, the Cavs are just 8-7, with 11 of those games against the Western Conference and another one coming on Sunday night at home.
It’s the month of the season in which the team is away from home the most with nine road games and had a couple of scheduled losses mixed in. A team source told thelandondemand.com midway through the month that January was viewed internally as the organization’s most difficult month of the season. So far, that’s checked out.
What that does mean is that the Cavs now have one of the easier schedules remaining in the NBA. Friday night in Oklahoma City was the team’s penultimate road game outside of the Eastern Time Zone. The only one remaining is set for Feb. 10 in New Orleans, meaning that after the All-Star break, the Cavaliers will stay in the same time zone for the rest of the regular season. When thinking about how difficult travel can be and impact the body, the time zone factor is a big one.
The Cavaliers also do not have a road trip that takes them to more than two different cities the rest of the season. They have one more four-game road trip, but that features a pair of games in Miami and then a pair of games in Charlotte in the middle of March.
None of these things are going to solve the issues the Cavs have had winning on the road this season, but due to those things, it certainly won’t be getting more difficult, either.
