Game Night Observations: Offensive Inconsistencies, Rebounding Issues and Waiting on the Response

The Cavs offense has quietly been not great this month.

Photo by Martin Jernberg on Unsplash

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the LA Clippers 132-119 on Tuesday night to drop to 56-12 on the season.

There’s no reason to panic because the Cavs have lost two straight games. There are, however, things worth keeping an eye on. These things aren’t just from the two losses against the Orlando Magic and LA Clippers, but rather things that have been bubbling.

A 16-game winning streak can paint over negative things. During the winning streak, at least the back half of it, the Cavs were winning with defense. It’s hard to paint that as a bad thing. It’s not. The Cavs entered Tuesday’s game against LA with the No. 2 defense in the NBA since Feb. 1. That’s a big enough sample size that it should be viewed as a pretty big positive.

The same can’t be said of what’s happening on the other side of the court.

The best offense in the NBA has been in a bit of a slump, believe it or not. The Cavs entered Tuesday night against the Clippers holding the best offensive rating for the season but have been just the 16th-best offense¹ in the NBA during the month of March. Entering Tuesday night, the Cavs were scoring just 115.8 points per 100 possessions this month, down considerably from their mark of 121.5 for the full season. The Cavs entered the month holding the best offensive rating in NBA history at 122.3.