The Cavs played great basketball, until they didn’t.
The Cleveland Cavaliers gave us all a scare with a 94-87 win over the Charlotte Hornets. Let’s see who won and lost the game.
WINNER – Evan Mobley’s First Half
This was a tale of two halves for Mobley.
Mobley had the highest scoring game of his career last season when he hung 41 points on the Hornets. He didn’t replicate that scoring outburst tonight, mainly because he totally disappeared in the second half, but he had the confidence and demeanor of a player who could get whatever he wanted in the first half.
The first half was the Mobley show. He opened the game with a pair of aggressive drives and had a double-double before the end of the second quarter. This block leading into a spinning dunk tells you everything you need to know. Mobley was everywhere.
How Mobley scored those points in the first half is important.
Elite NBA players understand where their comfort zones are and how to reach them. The best scorers will relentlessly work to hit their sweet spots. Think of Nikola Jokic with his back to the basket, or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander getting to the mid-range fallaway.
Mobley might not be in the same class offensively as SGA or Jokic. But he’s talented enough to have certain spots on the floor where he can dominate. pace the floor and get Mobley the ball moving downhill. That’s a blueprint that’s easy enough to follow. When you steer the offense in that direction, all that’s left is for Mobley to seize the opportunity. He did so in the first and second quarters.
And then the second half happened…
LOSER – That Second Half
Do you like turnovers? How about unfocused offense and blown defensive rotations?
The Cavs took everything that worked in the first half and tossed it out the window during the second half. We knew the Hornets would make a run at some point. Every NBA team does. But this game had no business being a nail-biter during the fourth quarter. Not when Cleveland already had the answers to the test.
Mobley had 13 points in the first half. He had just 1 point on two attempts in the second. It’s a trend that’s become all too familiar (and incredibly frustrating).
But it was more than Mobley. The Cavs became a turnover machine in the second half. Careless passes, forced entries. Just a general lack of focus that’s hard to explain when the team had looked totally dialed in for the first 24 minutes. The Cavs finished with 20+ turnovers for the second game in a row.
Again, I want to reiterate the adage, ‘it’s a game of runs’. You will rarely see a team dominate another for 48 full minutes. Especially not in the modern NBA when three-point shooting can swing a game’s momentum in seconds. So, it’s worth keeping this in mind when looking at the big picture, considering Cleveland held onto the win. But I still don’t think the Cavs should be happy about how much ground they conceded in the second half.
And they definitely shouldn’t be happy that Mobley became a non-factor in the third and fourth quarters.
WINNER – Defensive Effort
Alright, now let’s get back to the good stuff.
You might not have guessed this, but Charlotte entered this game with the second-best offense in the NBA over the last two weeks. They’ve been scoring in bunches and pulling off some impressive wins, including efforts against the OKC Thunder and LA Lakers.
That’s what made the first half of this game so impressive for the Cavs, who have been 24th in defensive rating during this same stretch.
Charlotte had 32 points at halftime after scoring only 12 points in the second quarter. They’d eventually find their groove and respond with a stronger second half — cutting the deficit all the way down to four points. But the Cavs had built a big enough cushion to hang on in the end. Charlotte still ended the game with only 87 points, which is a huge win for the Cavaliers’ defense.
Effort and communication are the keys to any good defense. You can’t be very good without either one. The Cavs checked both boxes forthe first half of tonight, playing hard and defending on a string. That wound up being just enough.
WINNER – Larry Nance Jr.
This one will be quick.
Nance played his first meaningful minutes since November after missing multiple weeks with a calf injury, then earning a few DNP-CD’s since being cleared to return. The Cavs have taken a cautious approach with putting him back into the lineup, but it paid off tonight.
This wasn’t a world-beating performance or anything. It was fairly average. But seeing Nance back on the floor, and more importantly, being a somewhat helpful player, was nice to see.
Shout out to Larry.
Category: General Sports
