The Cleveland Cavaliers missed an opportunity to steal Game 1 against the Detroit Pistons.
Let’s go over today’s winners and losers.
LOSER – Turnovers
Cleveland turned it over 20 times tonight, allowing 31 points off those turnovers. That might be the fastest way to guarantee yourself a loss on the road.
The ball was especially slippery for James Harden and Donovan Mitchell, who combined for 10 turnovers to just 9 assists. Harden was the primary culprit, coughing it up seven times tonight and a whopping 43 times throughout the playoffs so far.
Harden has felt like an offensive stabilizer for the Cavs. Even more so when Mitchell was struggling in round one. But he’s got to be more careful with the ball, or these ugly turnovers will seal their fate. There’s no way around it.
As for Mitchell, the Cavs are waiting for him to spark back to life. He’s been dormant since Game 2 versus Toronto — and they can’t afford for their star player to finish games with more turnovers than assists. Cleveland is desperate for some efficient playmaking, and neither Mitchell nor Harden is ringing that bell at that moment.
WINNER – Max Strus
You can only afford so many record scratch moments in the NBA Playoffs. If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about, imagine a perfect drive-and-kick opportunity that turns into a Dean Wade pumpfake that resets the offense.
That’s a record scratch.
The Cavs have loved having Wade on the floor with the core four, as his defensive versatility turns them from mediocre to elite. But Wade’s inability to shoot with volume or create off the dribble has severely limited his ceiling on the big stage. Strus doesn’t have that problem.
You won’t get the same defensive effort from Strus, but the Cavs offense has access to more options when he’s on the court. That’s because he’s a volume shooter who puts pressure on a defense to stay attached to him. The Cavs guard-guard screens are effective with Strus being a threat to pop for a three-point attempt.
Strus scored 19 points on 7-13 shooting tonight (4-8 from deep). He also added 5 rebounds. We know that Strus is a streaky shooter and could just as easily struggle in his next game. Still, added offensive production from Strus is something the Cavs can reasonably expect to get at various points in a playoff series. Tonight was one of those nights. They should have taken advantage.
LOSER – Rotations
There’s a reason that most teams shrink their rotations once the playoffs begin. You aren’t going to find more than eight or nine guys who can hang on the floor as the margins for error get smaller.
The Cavs played 11 guys tonight. That’s hard to explain.
Sure, Sam Merrill left the game with a hamstring after only playing seven minutes. So a spot in the rotation was opened for Keon Ellis to get his first run in four games. And, Jarrett Allen found himself in foul trouble, so Thomas Bryant was dusted off the bench for a few runs.
But the problem isn’t that Bryant and Ellis had to play minutes in a pinch. It’s that Kenny Atkinson chose to dig deeper into his bench rather than simply adding more responsibility to his star players. Again, there’s a reason most teams choose the latter in the playoffs. You’d rather lose with your best players deciding the game than start the fourth quarter with three reserves.
Seriously, the Cavs opened the fourth with Bryant, Ellis, and Dennis Schroder on the court. It didn’t go well, and all momentum from their third-quarter rally was lost.
No one played more than 36 minutes tonight for Cleveland. Allen, who was the hero in Game 7, played just 18 minutes with four fouls. Are we aware that fouling out doesn’t come with a suspension? Why not trust the Fro to play with two fouls to give instead of playing him just eight more minutes than Bryant?
Conversely, Cunningham played 43 minutes for Detroit. Tobias Harris played 39. There’s value in leaning on your best players. The Cavs will need to do that moving forward.
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