CLEVELAND — On Friday night the Cleveland Cavaliers appropriately handled business, defeating the Dallas Mavericks by 33 points. On Sunday afternoon, the Cavaliers once again faced the Mavericks and the result couldn’t have been more different from Friday’s success.
The Cavs lost on Sunday to the Dallas Mavericks 130-120 in what was one of the worst losses the team has had this season. The Cavs opened up the game by allowing 35 points to a Dallas team that ranks 27th in the NBA in offense. The second quarter was better, limiting the Mavericks to 25 points. After halftime things reverted right back to what they were in the first quarter, allowing Dallas to score 40 points.
That created a hole that was a large as 15 points in the first three quarters and would grow to 21 points during the fourth quarter in what turned out to be one of the more disappointing losses in a season that hasn’t been short on games like this one.
“Just too permissive on the defensive end. And I just told the guys it starts with that first unit, right? Just not good enough defensively. They never felt us,” Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “They got comfortable.”
The Mavericks were able to get almost any shot they wanted throughout the night. Offense wasn’t hard for them, save for a stretch in the second quarter. Nothing the Cavs tried defensively worked, partially because the effort level wasn’t high enough. The Mavericks were able to get into the paint at will from the perimeter frequently. When that would happen, the only thing that determined the possession at that point was whether or not the Mavericks would make the looks available to them.
Dallas finished the afternoon making nearly 53 percent of its attempts from the field and half of its attempts from beyond the arc. It’s much easier to find a shooting rhythm when the defense doesn’t force the comfort zone to be moved, and the Cavs didn’t do that on Sunday against the Mavericks.
“Kind of an inexcusable defensive effort today,” Atkinson added.
The issue on Sunday wasn’t entirely because of what the Cavs did defensively. While their offense was largely good enough to win, they did turn the basketball over 16 times, which led to 25 points for Dallas. While those numbers impact the defensive outlook, they’re not necessarily caused by defensive shortcomings.
Part of the present issue for the Cavs is the fact that they’ve been without starting center Jarrett Allen for the past five games. It’s part of the reason why they’ve been able to play well enough defensively at times, but have been inconsistent on that end of the floor. Allen has now missed five games with what Atkinson termed “pretty severe knee tendinitis” prior to the game. In those five games the Cavs have allowed 118.1 points per 100 possessions, which ranks 22nd in the NBA over that stretch.
“That's a big piece of cleaning up a lot of the mistakes that happen when we're playing 5 smalls,” Donovan Mitchell said on Sunday. “Even though we do sometimes play small ball, it's no excuse. I think that's the biggest thing. And, I think our defense was the only issue. I mean, I'm not really worried about the offensive piece.”
