Game Night Observations: Another example of bad fourth quarter offense
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Danny Cunningham covers the Cleveland Cavaliers for 850 ESPN Cleveland and thelandondemand.comThere have been a few things that could be thought of as the theme of the season for the Cleveland Cavaliers to date. One of them has been poor execution offensively down the stretch of close games, and that showed up again on Tuesday night in a 100-97 loss to the Miami Heat at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The Cavs did plenty of good things against the Heat on Tuesday, it just so happens that few of them came on the offensive end of the floor. A season that has been filled with growing pains of a new, young core of players experiencing an 82-game slate for the first time together keeps having the same lesson being taught.
Despite have three All-Stars on the court in Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, and Jarrett Allen and a potential future one in Evan Mobley, the Cavaliers have struggled all season long to create good offense when they need it most.
There have been some nights when one of those guys – Mitchell and Garland in particular – are so good that it doesn’t matter because they make ridiculous shots to lead the Cavs to victory. Other nights, like Thursday, the Cavs just can’t figure it out.
The team being 53 games in doesn’t mean that all of the kinks of a new team should be ironed out. Things don’t happen overnight in the NBA, they take time and progress isn’t always linear.
“Sometimes it's like we took a step back because we talk about closing the games out and then we do it good one game and then the next game we don't do it so well,” Allen said after the loss to Miami.
Those steps back happen, but it is, conservatively, mildly concerning that this is an area that Cavs have seemingly taken more steps backwards this season than steps forward. There have been moments where they’ve looked as if they have figured out how to operate late in games but there have been more when they struggle. In the 11 games this season that have been decided by three points or less, the Cavs are 4-7 and have lost four in a row.
“We're not executing well offensively. We were getting, whether it's a turnover or it's a bad shot, we're not getting to our stuff quick enough. And that's just on us,” Mitchell said after the loss. “It starts with myself and DG, putting us in the right positions to go out there and make those plays. But we're just not executing. It's apparent. You guys obviously see it from our record.”
The record is what stands out. It’s hard to envision playoff success for a team that struggles in these situations. Tuesday night’s game against Miami certainly felt more like a mid-April game than it did a late-January one. There was a different type of intensity throughout the night that is similar to what can be expected when the Cavaliers arrive in the playoffs.
Just because the record in this situations is bad right now doesn’t mean that it will be bad at the end of the season. There’s still time for things to improve in terms of closing out games.
“It’s tough to sit here time after time and be like, man, we know we're going through it, and that's where I talked to you guys yesterday about just patience,” Mitchell said of the late game struggles. “That's the biggest thing, which is continuing to understand it's only January and we're approaching the All-Star break. There are different things that we can do better. Now if I'm having this conversation in March, May, in March and April, then there's a problem.”
Things can be figured out, and it’s not crazy to think that they will be. The Cavs aren’t falling behind schedule or in any real danger of falling out of the playoff race anytime soon.
“I want it to be known that the sky, it’s not falling. We are in good shape, but we have to find that level of consistency to be a great team,” Mitchell said. “We're playing as if we are a young team and haven’t been there, and if we want to get to where we want to get to, ultimately we have to be able to find that level of consistency throughout adversity, throughout the days when we’re tired, throughout playing against teams that have been there because ultimately in the playoffs, no one really gives a damn, to be honest with you.”
Evan Mobley’s defense
Not everything about Tuesday night was bad for the Cavaliers. For most of the night, things were pretty good for the team defensively and a big reason was the play of Mobley. He spent a significant amount of his time defending Miami’s Jimmy Butler when the two were both on the floor.
Butler finished the night with 23 points on 6-of-16 shooting and 10-of-15 from the free throw line, but much of the time Mobley was defending him, he struggled to get going. For instance, Butler scored 11 of his 23 points in the first quarter, but eight of them came with Mobley off the floor (Butler made one basket and one free throw with Mobley on court).
Throughout this season Mobley has drawn a number of different assignments. Some of them involve him defending one of the opponents’ best players while others ask him to provide more help off the basketball. He’s certainly been put in the position of the latter more than the former to date. In going with the theme of Tuesday night feeling like a playoff game, Mobley defending a guy like Butler could be something the Cavs only want to experiment with during the regular season before leaning on more heavily during playoff games. It’s a fun wrinkle that the Cavs have and certainly will help them whenever they turn to it due to Mobley’s versatility as a defender.
There are other moments throughout the games that really stick out as to how good Mobley can be defensively. One of them came on a play that really doesn’t stand out too much unless you’re intently watching, but it really speaks to just how special of a defender Mobley is trending towards being.
Mobley is forced to help on Miami guard Max Strus after Garland and Cedi Osman don’t properly handle a screen. He prevents Strus from being able to attack the rim and attempt a layup due to his length and positioning. The next best thing for Strus is to be able to find the guy Mobley left – in this case it’s Bam Adebayo – and dish him the ball for an easy bucket. Strus’ pass to Adebayo is on the money, but Mobley uses not only his length and athleticism to get back, but also his anticipation to know that’s exactly what Strus’ next option is.
That’s a tough play for anyone to make, but it’s the type of play that Mobley makes with a type of regularity that makes him a player that should perennially find himself on All-Defense teams throughout the bulk of his career.
