The Cleveland Cavaliers lost Sunday to the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder and as people do in northeast Ohio, there was some freaking out.
We know the Thunder were missing two starters in MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams and two key reserves in Alex Caruso and Ajay Mitchell, so that played into the narrative from some that the Cavs failed a big test.
We said after the game we weren’t concerned about the loss on the road, the third game in four nights, but rather the bigger tests for Kenny Atkinson’s group would be Tuesday’s game against the Knicks would be more important as would the upcoming contest against the Pistons and the Celtics.
One reason is the way of the NBA. In the regular season, teams do what they do best and sometimes it doesn’t match up well with the opponent. The Thunder play very physically and in our opinion have adopted the style of the Pat Riley Knicks from the 90’s and the Warriors of the previous decade. That is, foul pretty much on every possession and figure the referees aren’t going to call them all.
Watch Lu Dort and Caruso defensively if you don’t believe us.
So, on Sunday, the Cavs didn’t adjust to this physicality until about the last three minutes of the first quarter and after that, played pretty well.
In a playoff situation, teams decide to react to what the opponent does well. Remember, last year the Thunder had to win two game sevens, one against Denver and the other in The Finals against Indiana, who lost their best player during the second quarter of the deciding game.
The point is the Cavs see the teams in the Western Conference so infrequently, it is hard to get a gauge on how they would handle being in a best-of-seven series. Against the East, these teams meet three or four times per season and play in the playoffs much more frequently, so you can see what those teams want to do on a more regular basis.
Of course, it wouldn’t be the Cavaliers without some injury issues.
Now James Harden suffered a non-displaced fracture in his thumb, and it likely to miss some time, possibly a couple of weeks, meaning he will not be in there when Cleveland plays Detroit and Boston.
Harden has shown remarkable durability in his career so who knows how much time he will really miss.
And Atkinson did say Max Strus is getting closer to returning which will throw another player into the rotation, and another 6’5″ player at that. Now, the coach has these players in that height range: Jaylon Tyson, Sam Merrill, Harden, Keon Ellis, and Strus.
With Strus missing the first 60 games or so, it’s tough to imagine he will be a significant factor in the post-season.
What may happen is the Cavs will use different rotations depending on the opponent, meaning players will get differing amounts of playing time on a per game basis.
That means plenty of questions about why a certain player didn’t get minutes on a certain night.
Atkinson is starting Dean Wade at small forward. It worked very well against the Knicks, but it didn’t work against the Thunder. So, he might play 25 minutes one night and five the next.
After this tough stretch, the schedule eases up quite a bit for the rest of the season, which likely will mean some games off for Donovan Mitchell, and perhaps some others. And remember, the Cavaliers are already pretty deep.
Again, how the Cavaliers do against the Pistons and Celtics are far more important than what happened last Sunday. No one wants to lose, but Cleveland wasn’t going to end the year on a 35 game winning streak.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 