The Cavaliers never leave. They have been hit by injuries all over the place, have had their share of serious COVID problems like many other teams, and seemed to transition to a more modest format, finally hit by reality, with four losses in five games when Ricky went down injured Blond. But no, the Cavs they don’t go They learn, they adapt, they recompose: compete. Now they add a brilliant (given the circumstances, more) 5-2 in seven games. And they are 25-18, clinging to the East playoff zone (sixth). Even better: They’re wrapping up a tough six-game road trip to the West. They have won four of five, their only loss in San Francisco, on the day of Klay Thompson’s return.
The Cavs are 21-8 in the 29 games Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley have played together. That data is tremendous, it marks a rhythm of almost 60 victories. In San Antonio (109-114) they shot poorly (8/20 in triples although they scored two at the buzzer to close the second and third quarters) and signed a lousy 14/24 from the free throw line. But they won again and showed once again that they are learning, at full speed, to compete: close matches, grit their teeth, delve into their rival’s flaws and enhance their virtues. The biggest, you know, the combination of a tremendous point guard like Garland with that frontcourt absolutely impossible, huge, off the mark in this NBA of shorties and shot of three: Markkanen-Mobley-Allen. The Spurs made seven more 3-pointers but crashed in the zones (40-60 on points in the paint), with Jakob Poeltl trying to drain as much water as he could against Allen (17 points, 16 rebounds) and Mobley, who already has the Rookie of the Year (15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists).
Garland put the creation and transcendental points. He finished with 32 points, 8 assists, just one turnover and 4/8 shooting from 3-point range. Waiting for the Cavs to make a move in the market to put an outside scorer next to him (Caris LeVert?), and after being left without Collin Sexton and without Ricky Rubio, the point guard continues to strides in his career towards stardom that he touches with his fingers. The rest is provided by the tremendous work of players like Isaac Okoro and Lamar Stevens, the hierarchy of Kevin Love and the points, this time very important, by Cedi Osman (14).
The Cavs held onto his defense and survival spirit to an ugly end: from 103-103 in the middle of the last quarter to 104-108 already in the last minute. The Spurs had only scored a free throw, squeezed by the Cavs’ defense and annihilated by Markkanen and Allen’s dunks, the final blows. That’s the way things are for some Spurs that have lost five in a row and nine in ten games, of course something unusual in the It was Popovich. And that they are already 15-27, twelve games away from 50% and with no more good news than the excellent performance of Dejounte Murray, who finished this time with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists. His inertia is now terrible, that of the Cavs is ascending (again) and the result reflected that, neither more nor less, in a game that was not brilliant and in which for many minutes no one was much better than anyone else. But in that ecosystem some Cavs extracted oil that do not give in or waste time complaining. Whatever happens, compete.
