On To Round Two And Boston For Cavs

Well, they did it. The Cleveland Cavaliers advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs with a 106-94 win over the Orlando Magic. And they overcame an 18-point first half deficit to do it.

Early on, the Cavs couldn’t make a shot on offense and defensively couldn’t stop Paolo Banchero, who had 24 points in the first half.

The game may have turned oddly enough when Max Strus and Darius Garland, who were a combined 1 for 8 from the floor, missing all five of their three-point shots, both had to leave the game in foul trouble.

J.B. Bickerstaff went to Caris LeVert, who he benched in the second half of Game 6, and Sam Merrill, who hadn’t been playing much at all, probably because it was all he had.

LeVert hit 4 of 6 shots and Merrill hit two threes and two free throws the remainder of the half and Cleveland trimmed the lead to a more manageable 10 points at the half.

In the second half, Donovan Mitchell took over, scoring 24 points on 8 of 14 shooting, Strus got it going, knocking down 3 out of 4 from long range, and Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro played tremendous defense.

Mobley was a force inside, grabbing 16 rebounds and blocking five shots in addition to 11 points. Okoro forced Banchero into a 4 for 15 half from the field, putting the young Magic all-star into check.

In the end though, it was Mitchell. He scored 39 points in all and attacked from the opening tip off, getting to the line 17 times, making 15. He kind of willed the Cavs to victory.

So now it is the #1 seed in the East, the Boston Celtics, who had the NBA’s best record in the regular season going 64-18. They ranked first in the league in offensive rating and third in defensive rating.

And they have stars on top of stars: Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, and one of the league’s unsung very good players in Derrick White.

However, Porzingis is currently on the shelf with a calf injury, so actually from a size standpoint, the Celts are a much better matchup for Cleveland. Beyond him, the Celtics have only one player who gets more than 20 minutes per night and is 6’9″ or more in Al Horford.

Boston loves the three-point shot, leading the league in attempts and makes, and second in percentage. Their flaw has been when they aren’t going in, they just keep taking them.

The biggest thing though for the Cavs is they have to get offensive production out of someone besides Mitchell and Jarrett Allen, if he can get healthy.

This means Darius Garland simply must play better. Garland hit a three in the fourth quarter and the whole team seemed to celebrate because he’s struggled that much.

Actually, he did shoot well in the series, it was everything else that was awful. He seemed to be very shaky with the ball in his hands and defensively is a problem as well. If he can move the ball (meaning he stops dribbling the air out of the ball) and hit shots, he can be a big asset.

We would also like Bickerstaff to reset. Go back to playing Georges Niang at least to start the series, and we would still go 10 deep, giving time for Sam Merrill, Marcus Morris, and Tristan Thompson.

It’s a new series. We don’t think the Cavs can win; it will be more about how competitive they can play in the series to determine how the team should be reshaped this summer.

Locker Room Issues Rumbling For Cavs?

Recently, reports have surfaced that the Cavaliers contemplated a coaching change earlier this season when the team was struggling, and he is certainly coaching for his job the rest of this season.

The latter is no shock. We have been saying all year long the reality of the 2023-24 NBA season is if the Cavs either didn’t make the playoffs or was bounced again in the first round, J.B. Bickerstaff is going to be looking for employment when it ends.

However, the front office should be call into question if there was a thought of firing Bickerstaff earlier in the season. Why? Because if they weren’t firmly in his corner after the first-round loss to New York in April, they should have cut bait with him then when a couple of solid candidates were available.

Former NBA championship coach Nick Nurse was let go by Toronto after five seasons, four of those being over .500. Ime Udoka, who was let go under odd circumstances in Boston after guiding the Celtics to a 51-31 record and a berth in the NBA Finals, was also available.

And although we aren’t big fans, Mike Budenholzer, who won a title guiding the Milwaukee Bucks in 2020-21, and has a .600 winning percentage in the regular season was also let go by the Bucks following the year.

If the Cavs weren’t “married” to Bickerstaff and were going to think about letting him go in the first half of this year, they should have made the decision after last season. It’s unfair to start the next campaign already second guessing.

But here we are, and the most recent loss on the road for Cleveland just added fuel to the fire of those who have lost confidence in Bickerstaff, and no doubt the front office is included.

The Cavs scored 80 points in the first half and led by 26 with 9:35 left in the third quarter, 89-63. From there until the end of the game, the wine and gold were outscored 57-29.

There were reports the players were unhappy with the lack of any new strategy being deployed while Paul George scored 23 points in the final stanza. By the way, that 23 was more than Cleveland scored in that quarter.

Coaches lose locker rooms when they lose trust. Players know who can play and who can’t play. They also know when an opposing player is on a roll, you have to change up defensive looks.

When a coach doesn’t recognize this, the doubt starts to creep in, and the trust crumbles. Not playing Marcus Morris a game after awarding him in the locker room has to be a head scratcher. Watching Sam Merrill shoot the lights out and then get benched probably has the same effect.

We aren’t around the team, so we don’t know for sure these things caused issues, but players can see what is working and what isn’t. This happens at every level.

So, if the trust is gone between the coach and the players, then the front office either has to change the coach or the players. If the Cavs lose in the first round of the playoffs, we think there will be some of each.

Have Cavs Put Together A Solid Roster?

Certainly, the Cavs’ recent struggles have put a spotlight on J.B. Bickerstaff. And to be honest, the coach doesn’t help himself with some very weird choices.

For example, in a game where the Cavs where getting hammered at Phoenix Wednesday, trailing by almost 30 points in the first half, the coach used basically seven players, and Sam Merrill and Marcus Morris each played just four minutes.

Remember, Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade (perhaps joining Ty Jerome on the mysterious injury list), and Craig Porter were not available.

But, enough dogging on Bickerstaff. We go back and forth on what is more of an issue for the Cavs, the coaching or the composition of the roster, which would fall on Koby Altman.

A common theme when we discuss the wine and gold is our belief that the roster is small by NBA standards. Yes, the Cavs start Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, both 6’11”, legitimate big men. However, they are usually at a height disadvantage at each of the other three positions, particularly against the better teams in the NBA.

Look at the other teams battling Cleveland for the 2nd through 5th spots in the Eastern Conference and who they start at point guard, #2 guard, and small forward:

Cleveland: Darius Garland (6’1″), Donovan Mitchell (6’3″), Max Strus (6’5″)
Milwaukee: Damian Lillard (6’2″), Malik Beasley (6’4″), and Khris Middleton (6’7″)
New York: Jalen Brunson (6’2″), Donte DiVincenzo (6’4″), and Josh Hart (6’4″)
Orlando: Jalen Suggs (6’5″), Gary Harris (6’4″), Franz Wagner (6’10”)

Altman’s first top ten pick upon getting the job was taking Collin Sexton, a 6’3″ guard. After LeBron James left for Los Angeles as a free agent, the Cavs needed a guard who could score, so we understood the pick.

However, several mock drafts had Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a 6’6″ guard going in the top six and he was still on the board when the Cavs’ picked at #8. Cleveland liked Sexton because of his toughness but traded him after an injury plagued fourth season.

Altman doubled down the following year, selecting Garland with the 5th overall selection. To be honest, we liked Jarrett Culver, a 6’6″ guard out of Texas Tech who is no longer in the NBA. But taking smallish guards in back-to-back years put the Cavaliers on the path to being a smaller team.

Garland is a good player, so it’s a solid choice, it’s just curious because of the Sexton selection the year before.

In 2020, Altman picked Okoro, a 6’5″ defensive specialist with the 5th pick. We said (at the time) picking a defensive player who was not a big man that high was a huge risk. Okoro’s offense is starting to develop, but the predicament Cleveland finds itself in is offering a contract extension at a much larger salary.

We would have taken Obi Toppin, a 6’9″ forward, who we feel can play both forward spots and is averaging 10.1 points per game with the Pacers.

Altman did try to go big when he traded for Lauri Markkanen, a seven-footer who could play small forward, and really was part of the reason Cleveland jumped from a lottery team to a playoff squad. But the former University of Arizona standout was part of the package to get Mitchell.

Getting Jarrett Allen was a coup, but the Cavs basically got him for nothing, and what GM would have turned down that request.

And drafting Evan Mobley was a no brainer.

He did go big for Mitchell, a very bold move. But Bickerstaff is still stuck with having to play Okoro and Strus, both 6’5″ at small forward where they are undersized.

Whether Mitchell decides he wants to stay here or turns down the extension, our guess is things will look very different when the Cavs report to training camp in September.

If Mitchell re-ups, our guess is Garland will be moved. If he doesn’t sign, the Cavaliers will look to move their all-star guard for players and draft picks.

We still believe when it comes to hoops, it is better to err on the side of size. You don’t want to draft untalented big men, but notice the lack of players 6’7″ to 6’9″ on the roster.

A Tough Stretch For Cavs Should “Let Us Know”

Since blowing out the Toronto Raptors on February 10th, the Cleveland Cavaliers have gone through a bit of a rough patch. It’s understandable because the wine and gold have been on fire since the calendar turned to 2024, winning 17 of 19 games through that contest in the Canada.

In the week leading up to the All-Star weekend festivities (we will ignore that abomination of a game), and after, the Cavs have a 4-4 record with one of those victories coming Tuesday when Max Strus hit a 59-foot shot to win the game against Dallas.

The wins came at home vs. Chicago in which the struggled, the Strus contest, and Ws against the hapless Pistons and Wizards.

They haven’t looked like the same team that rolled for the first six weeks of the new year.

Starting today, they will be tested in March with home games against the Knicks, who muscled them out of the playoffs last season and the Celtics, who are the best team in the East. It should give J.B. Bickerstaff a measuring stick of where his team is right now.

Following those games is a road game in Atlanta, then a three game homestand in which the team with the best record in the West, Minnesota comes in and so does the talent-rich Phoenix Suns.

The middle of the month has a road stretch, featuring two games vs. Miami (one is the only home game) and other road tilts at New Orleans, Minnesota, and Indiana. Overall, they have 11 road games out of 14 played, while the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse is hosting the Mid-American Conference tournament and the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

Hopefully, the Cavs will find the formula that allowed them to be dominant from the time Darius Garland and Evan Mobley were injured to the week before the All-Star break.

Perhaps, the Cavaliers and the coaching staff were a bit in their own heads. The squad was sizzling putting the ball in Donovan Mitchell’s hands, and he played at an MVP level.

The Cavs talked about the different style of play adopted when Garland and Mobley were out. They pointed to the three-point shooting, but really that improvement came from increased playing time from Sam Merrill, who is still knocking them down at a 43.5% clip.

That’s way it was weird that Merrill received three DNP-CDs (did not play-coach’s decision) in a recent seven game period in which Cleveland went 4-3.

Dean Wade, who played 20 minutes or more in 11 out of 12 games in an 11-1 stretch throughout January, suddenly had his time reduced. He played less than 10 minutes in two games since play resumed.

We aren’t huge Wade supporters, but as we believe Charles Barkley once said, if it ain’t broke, don’t break it. It seems like Bickerstaff has decided to do just that.

Now, can he put it back together again? The obvious solution is that Merrill and Wade earned their time on the floor, and the adjustments should have been made by doing some slight trimming to some of the players getting heavier workloads.

After all, that would have them be fresher for the tough stretch coming up and then the playoffs.

Many of the national basketball media are having doubts about the Cavs making a deep run in the post-season. Playing well in a tough March slate could change some minds among folks who know the game.

How Do Garland And Mobley Fit Back In?

On December 15th, the Cleveland Cavaliers announced that two of their starters, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley were going to miss some time. Garland broke his jaw and would miss about four weeks (it has gone longer than that) and Mobley needed a procedure on his knee and would miss about six weeks.

At first thought, it appeared this would ruin the season for the wine and gold, perhaps causing them to miss the playoffs. Instead, the Cavs have flourished, winning 13 of 17 since the injuries.

They have taken advantage of a bit of a soft schedule. They’ve played only two games against the “elite” teams in the NBA, and both were against Milwaukee, who played without Giannis Antetokounmpo in the first one, a Cavs’ win. Only six of the contests have been on the road, not counting the game in Paris.

Cleveland has lost just two of those road games.

By the way, that’s not a criticism of this 13-4 stretch. If you are scheduled to play a bunch of mediocre teams, we would rather have you defeat those teams than lose. The Cavs simply took care of business.

They’ve changed their style of play, shooting more three-point shots, shooting 42.5 per game compared to 33.1 per night before Garland and Mobley were injured. The organization is trumpeting a new style, but really, it’s the emergence of Sam Merrill, who has become a rotation mainstay, averaging 13.5 points per game.

Merrill is taking 8.7 three-pointers per contest and is knocking them down at a 43.4% clip.

We also don’t want to forget the defense has picked up greatly since the two starters went out, surprising because Mobley is one of the league’s best defenders. Perhaps the players and coaching staff turned up the defense because of the offense they figured to miss in having two of their three top scorers out of the lineup.

A big question for us is what happens when Garland and Mobley return. With the heater the Cavs are on, we feel like it is up to them to fit in with the new, successful style of play, that is as long as it is working.

For Mobley, that would seem to involve staggering time with Jarrett Allen and not having them on the court as much. And once J.B. Bickerstaff starts substituting in a given game, he kind of does that anyway.

And if you have a lead late, you want both Allen and Mobley on the court because of their ability to defend, even out on the floor.

Also, Tristan Thompson’s suspension does open some minutes in the frontcourt.

Garland would seem to have to make a bigger adjustment. First, he has played 20 games this season and had five or more turnovers in seven of them. By contrast, Donovan Mitchell, who has become the primary ball handler with Garland out, has played in 32 games and has had five or more turnovers just five times.

We would say the ball should be in Mitchell’s hands and Garland should play off him. And Merrill should not lose any playing time due to Garland’s return. He’s earned playing time even with the roster being complete.

How Bickerstaff handles this could be his defining moment as coach. Cleveland’s next three games are against three very good teams, two vs. Milwaukee and then a home game against the 28-14 Clippers.

If this new style and new rotation continues to work, the proverbial ball is in the court of the players returning to the lineup. They have to go with the winning flow.

And don’t forget the trade deadline is two weeks from today.

Cavs’ 3 Point Success? Surprise, It’s Sam Merrill

The Cleveland Cavaliers have spent the last week or so talking about their new offensive style since the injuries to Darius Garland and Evan Mobley.

They’ve gone 8-3 in the 11 contests without two of their usual starters, and they have increased the number of three-point shots they’ve attempted in that span. In the first 25 games of the season, the Cavs averaged 33 long range shots per game, and in the last 11, they added 10 attempts per game.

Better yet, they’ve been more efficient with the shot, making 34.5% of their attempts behind the arc in the first 25 games, while they’ve knocked down 37% since Garland and Mobley have been out.

The chief reason for the improvement has been Sam Merrill, who since the injuries occurred has received steady playing time and made 44.4% of his three-pointers, taking 72 of them in the nine games he has appeared in.

If you are going to take more three-point shots, the key is putting someone in the game who can make them consistently. And that’s what Merrill is doing.

We have been wary of Merrill’s abilities because in watching him it seemed the game was too fast for him, meaning he shot well in the G League and Summer League, but when he got to the NBA, he was rushing, and the result was his shot was off.

The game seems to have slowed down a bit for him and the results have been very good. Teams can always use players who knock down outside shots at that rate. He currently ranks 13th in the league in three-point percentage.

Unfortunately, the Cavs’ issues are with the players who are taking the most long-range shots per game, Max Strus and Donovan Mitchell.

Strus has attempted the 7th most three-pointers in the league with 294. The problem is of the players in the top ten in the NBA in attempts, Strus has the lowest percentage of makes at 34.7%. The next lowest is Damian Lillard at 35.2%.

However, Lillard is a much more versatile offensive player, having gone to the line 275 times this season. Strus has attempted just 49 free throws.

As for Mitchell, because he’s missed some time with injuries, he ranks fifth in the league with 8.9 three-point attempts per game. And same as Strus, he has the lowest field goal percentage among the top ten in attempts at 35%.

This is not to call out Mitchell, who is one of the premier scoring guards in the league. However, he is knocking down 53.3% of his shots inside the arc. We understand the toll it takes attacking the basket more often (he’s makes 68% inside three feet), but only 10% of his field goal tries are from 16 feet to the arc, but he makes half of those shots.

Meanwhile, 42.8% of his field goal tries are three pointers. We’d like to see him lower that percentage a bit.

We still think a good part of the Cavs’ success since Garland and Mobley went out is due to a nice schedule break. The only real good team Cleveland has played in this span is Milwaukee, and they’ve only played three road games during this time.

When they return from France, they will play the Bucks three more times, as well as Orlando and the Clippers by the end of January. Of course, Garland shouldn’t be that far from returning.

Those games will be good tests.

It’s funny though that Koby Altman signed Strus and Georges Niang to get more three-point shooting, and the player who has been the key was here all along. Sam Merrill’s shooting has been a big factor in coping with the absences of Garland and Mobley.

Summer League Isn’t Real Ball, But We Did Like A Couple Of Things

The Cleveland Cavaliers have emerged as the champions of the 2023 NBA Summer League!

Seriously, good for the players and coaches, it is better to win than lose anytime they are keeping score, but the Summer League is a glorified pick up game in our eyes, and we don’t take much of it seriously.

For example, we have seen the Cavs’ media influencers getting excited about the performance of Sam Merrill, who averaged 20.4 points in Las Vegas, knocking down 44.6% of his three-point shots.

We get it, Cleveland is starved for three point shooters, but let’s remind everyone that Merrill played five years in college and is actually older than the wine and gold’s best player, Donovan Mitchell, and since the 2020-21 season, he’s played a grand total of 11 NBA games, making 12 of 41 shots from behind the arc.

You see, the real NBA and the summer league are miles apart in terms of quality of play.

We said after the draft not to get excited about second round pick Emoni Bates because he will likely spend much of the season playing for the Charge in the G-League. Our mind has not changed.

Bates shot 40% from long distance, but we didn’t see someone who can defend on an NBA level right now, and let’s just say he needs to learn how to find teammates when they are open. He averaged 1.2 assists in the six games.

We aren’t writing him off, but he has a lot to learn before he can be a rotational player in the NBA.

That doesn’t mean we didn’t see anything good.

Again, knowing it is summer league, we thought Isaiah Mobley looked like he might be ready to contribute on a nightly basis. The Cavs need some big men who don’t look like they’ve seen better days, and they added veteran Damian Jones (6’11”) in a trade after the draft.

Mobley is 6’10” and averaged 17.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per contest. We love players who can do a little bit of everything, a complete player if you will. He also approached the games like he was a veteran in our eyes, taking a leadership role with this group of young players.

And the coaching staff put the ball in his hands at times to initiate the offense. We were skeptical when the Cavs drafted him last year in the second round, but we now think he can contribute on the big team, or at least be given the opportunity to get a standard contract.

We also continue to be impressed by Luke Travers, another second round pick from 2022.

He is committed to play in his native Australia this year, but we think he could help the big club if given the opportunity. He’s not a scorer, but he is a basketball player.

He scored 7.5 points, grabbed 6.3 boards, and dished out two assists per game, but when he was on the floor, the young Cavs played better. And he’s listed somewhere between 6’6″ and 6’8″, which is exactly the kind of size the wine and gold need.

We aren’t saying +/- is the best statistic, but he led the Vegas Cavs in that department.

The players on the roster should be proud of their accomplishment, no one else went undefeated in Vegas. But fans shouldn’t read too much into it.

Let’s see how much playing time any of these guys get in Cleveland when the regular season starts.

Cavs Need More Than Tinkering To Advance Next Year.

In watching the NBA playoffs, we continuously think about the Cavaliers’ first round defeat in five games at the hands of the New York Knicks. We think about it because the Eastern Conference’s 8th seed, the Miami Heat, advanced to the NBA Finals

We also think watching the Heat and this is a huge off-season for the Cavs’ organization, and the heat should be turned up on the seats of both Koby Altman and J.B. Bickerstaff.

In reading wrap ups about the series, it seems the scapegoats for fans and some media are Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen.

Mitchell takes blame because he is the star player, and when many national analysts look at a team’s failure, they perceive the problem as the best player simply didn’t play well enough.

Allen takes blame because Cleveland was hammered on the boards, and since he’s the center, it’s his fault. We aren’t saying he’s blameless, but part of the problem was the Cavs’ defensive philosophy. Allen was in help mode and was caught out of position.

Our feeling is the coaching staff did little to help either player. The Knicks were trapping Mitchell and Darius Garland to force them to give up the ball, but it seems the coaches never came up with a counter.

Why not move Mitchell off the ball and have him run off screens to get open and get the ball where he can just shoot it with a good look? As of Allen and Mobley, it doesn’t seem like the wine and gold run anything for either offensively. Therefore, teams don’t really need to guard them to take away anything.

As for Altman, he gets a lot of praise for getting Mitchell and drafting Mobley. While we can debate the price for the former, it doesn’t take a special basketball mind to go after a multiple time all-star player. It takes guts to give up what is needed, but it’s not like he found a diamond in the rough.

He did take a chance on Mobley in some regards, as we didn’t think he would have made an impact so quickly because of his slight build. But there is no questioning his talent.

NFL general managers make their reputation on finding gems in the later rounds of the draft, the 4th, 5th, and 6th rounds. To us, NBA GMs make their bones finding solid players to make up the bench.

Right now, we would say Altman has not done a good job in that regard, and let’s face it, he whiffed on the Isaac Okoro pick at #5, despite what the organization continues to tell you.

Of the 58 players in that draft who played in the NBA, Okoro ranks 51st in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player). Among the players the Cavaliers could have selected are Tyrese Haliburton, who made the all-star team this season, Onyeka Okongwu, who was selected with the very next pick (9.9 PPG, 7.2 RPG this year), and the player we wanted, Obi Toppin, a 6’9″ player who can play on the wing.

Because of injuries, Dylan Windler simply hasn’t contributed, and when he has played, he’s made just 32.2% of his threes, belying his reputation as a shooter.

And the bench just isn’t there. The front office has decided to sign veteran big men the last two years who simply can’t play anymore (Ed Davis and Robin Lopez). They’ve put an immense amount of trust in Dean Wade, who we feel would be at the bottom of most team’s rosters.

He signed Sam Merrill after the trading deadline, apparently to add shooting, but Merrill has been hanging around the NBA for three years and has played in 11 games since his rookie year.

Despite Altman’s comments about staying the course this off-season, if the Cavaliers want to contend for a spot in at least the Eastern Conference finals, they have to bolster the roster from spots #8 through #10, and get much better at small forward.

Doesn’t sound like tinkering, does it?

Cavs’ Warts Show In Disappointing Game One.

Sometimes, it stinks to be right. That’s how we felt last night watching all our fears about the series between the Cavaliers and Knicks come true.

We were concerned about the Cleveland bench, and led by Josh Hart, the New York reserves outscored the Cavs’ by a 37-14 count. Hart not only scored more (17 points) than the wine and gold’s bench, he also outrebounded them, grabbing 10 boards.

The Cleveland bench had just five.

We were also worried about the rebounding of the Knicks. Cleveland spent the last two months of the regular season losing the battle of the boards, and indeed, the same thing happened in game one, as New York grabbed 51 caroms to the Cavs’ 38.

We have been complaining about the lack of size for the Cavs since the trade deadline, when the organization decided to let Kevin Love go. Love can’t guard on the perimeter anymore, and his shooting dropped off when he injured his thumb.

We felt they would add another big man to the roster to replace Love on the buyout market. Instead, they picked up Danny Green and Sam Merrill, two wings, neither of whom saw action in game one.

And by the way, former Cleveland big man, Isaiah Hartenstein had eight points and five rebounds.

Our other concern was J.B. Bickerstaff. The coach had a week of practices to decide who would get action in the playoffs, and the only member of the bench who made an impact in the game was the last player he used, Cedi Osman.

Osman had nine points and two rebounds and drew the defensive assignment against Jalen Brunson in the fourth quarter, and we thought he acquitted himself quite well.

The first big man sub used by Bickerstaff was Dean Wade, who somehow was put on Julius Randle, and was abused by the Knicks’ star in seven minutes, and Cleveland was outscored by 14 minutes while he was on the floor.

Cleveland out-shot the Knicks from the floor (43.4% to 42%) and from three (32.3% to 27.6%). The young Cavs inexperience showed, missing six free throws (NY missed just three), including a pair each by guards Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland.

Mitchell tried to will the Cavs to victory, scoring 38 points and dishing out eight assists, but he got very little help. Garland had 17, but also five turnovers. Evan Mobley seemed a bit tentative around the basket, hitting just 4 of 13 shots.

We saw some criticism of Jarrett Allen, but he had 14 points and 14 boards and dished out 4 assists, the second highest total on the team.

New York predictably left Isaac Okoro open on the perimeter and he missed all four of his attempts from long range and went one of six overall. The Cavs need Okoro’s defense on the floor, but he can’t be a liability on the offensive end.

And Caris LeVert, who finished the regular season strong, had an off night, making just one shot in seven tries, and had just one assist and one rebound.

The good news is the Cavs know now what kind of performance is needed in the playoffs. And we have always said until the ultimate game in the series, the even numbered games are most important. The Cavs can even things up on Tuesday night, and if they lose that one, it could be a very short visit to the playoffs for the wine and gold.

Simply, Garland, Mobley, and LeVert must be better in Game 2. We wonder if we will see Osman earlier in the next game. And why not use Lamar Stevens, who may be the “grittiest” Cavalier?

But it will be a big issue if the Cavaliers cannot hold their own with New York on the glass. The defensive job isn’t over until you get possession of the ball.