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CLEVELAND, Ohio – After being beaten by a horde of playoff teams last month, Sunday night was supposed to be different.
Focus on supposed to be. Only it wasn’t. Just the familiar desperate performance of the Cleveland Cavaliers, losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder, 117-101. It’s Cleveland’s 10th consecutive loss and 14th in the last 16 games.
Finally, the Cavs were playing against a comparable opponent – the rebuilding Thunder, also one of the youngest teams in the league who came on the night of losing six of their last seven. These are the games the Cavs should be able to compete in. These are the teams the Cavs should be able to beat, providing a reasonable measuring stick.
Cleveland was leading 20-10 at one point early Sunday night, looking like a refreshed group. That quick start quickly faded. Shortly after the initial breakout, the Cavs began to mix in their reserves, the Thunder cleared the lead, and Cleveland never recovered. At one point in the fourth quarter, Oklahoma City’s lead exploded to 20 points.
It’s one thing to be routed by the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers or Milwaukee Bucks vying for the championship – the muscular opponents during this relentless time. But the thunder?
“I thought it was lost in the physics department,” Cavs head coach JB Bickerstaff said. “We just have to be better. We have to make open plans to survive. We need to keep better and be more physical. We have to be better. “
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, selected a few spots after Collin Sexton in the 2018 NBA Draft, led all scorers with 31 points on 9 of 15 shots, 3 of 3 of 3 and 10 of 12 of 12 foul line. This performance won’t help silence the chorus of fans who believe the Cavs should have taken the 6-foot-6 smooth guard instead of Sexton a few years ago.
Veteran stabilizer Al Horford contributed with 16 points and eight rebounds. Oklahoma City, 29th in offense this season, shot 54.4% from the field and 46.4% from beyond the arc.
Sexton scored 27 points on 11 of 22 shots for the Cavs, who had four of five starters to double. Jarrett Allen added a career-high 26 points, making his 11 shooting attempts and winning 17 draws. Darius Garland had 21 points.
The Cavs’ starters weren’t the main problem. It was their hideous thinned bench. Oklahoma City’s second unit led the Cleveland Reserves, 42-9.
Kevin Love, Larry Nance Jr., Taurean Prince and Andre Drummond – the four highest paid players in Cleveland – have all been sidelined, sitting on the bench in hoodies, watching their teammates crumble without them .
These absences created a domino effect, forcing Bickerstaff to dig deeper. The losses of Nance, Love, and Prince meant that Cedi Osman was starting in power. The Cavs didn’t get enough production from there on Friday – and the same happened again against the Thunder two nights later.
Osman scored six points, Lamar Stevens had two and Dylan Windler, forced from time to time to this position by necessity, made a basket.
Those costly minutes – and a weakened second unit – played the biggest part in preventing the Cavs from a much-needed victory.
“Nobody is coming to bail us out,” Bickerstaff said. “No one is coming to save us. The rest of the league doesn’t care about our streak. They see us as an opportunity to be successful now. And we have to find that courage and that determination where we actually draw the line in the sand and not only hold the line, but push forward and cross the line. This is the only way out of it. “
3-point disparity
The Cavs have pledged to shoot more than 3 points. It’s a good start. But making them is another problem. They went 8 by 35 deep. Osman was 0 for 8, Sexton just 1 in 6. The Thunder, meanwhile, were 13 of 28.
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The Cavs continue their homestand on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Hawks. The peak is at 7 p.m.
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New Cavs Face Masks For Sale: Here’s where you can purchase Cleveland Cavaliers-themed face coverings for coronavirus protection, including a single mask ($ 14.99) and a 3-pack ($ 24.99). All NBA profits have been donated to charity.
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