Cavs: Collin Sexton playing hero-ball and 3 more things learned against the Knicks

The Cavs suffered their first loss of the year against the Knicks on Tuesday, losing at home 95-86 on a very bad shooting night.

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost their first game of the year against the New York Knicks on Tuesday night, to a tune of 95-86. It was the first game the team was without Kevin Love and Isaac Okoro, two key pieces that helped contribute to the team’s issues. The team fell behind early in the first quarter and couldn’t out-pace the Knicks to get back into the game for the rest of the night.

Besides Andre Drummond, who went 7-of-13 from the floor for 17 points and 17 rebounds, no one really shot well. Collin Sexton and Darius Garland, the now-dubbed Sexland duo, shot a combined 34% from the floor, and about 31% from three-point range. Cedi Osman had an awful day shooting, going 2-of-11 from the floor and 0-of-5 from the three-point line for just six points.

Javale McGee and Larry Nance had their usual night of output but it wasn’t enough with the lackluster play of the team’s best scorers, as well as the team’s other two bench players, Dante Exum and Damyean Dotson; both of whom were highly ineffective.

Four things we learned

Collin Sexton and others still tried to play “hero-ball”

One of Collin Sexton’s big issues is that he tries to do things all on his own, something that was efficient. The Cavs had averaged 31 assists over the first three games and only had 22 tonight.  Sure, only part of that is on Sexton, but as he’s supposed to be the best player on his team, he carries that weight the most. The ball movement stopped with Sexton tonight as he forced plays for himself. Same thing for Darius Garland but to a lesser extent.

The bench isn’t deep enough without Kevin Love or Isaac Okoro

Without Kevin Love and Isaac Okoro, the team had to start its two best bench players; Larry Nance and Cedi Osman. The team can’t afford to have their best two players off-the-bench start, because the team has no one on the bench then that can score. An obvious issue tonight. If the Cavs are series about a run, they need to find a way to bring on another guard who can score every game, because Dante Exum isn’t the answer. Partly because…

The team isn’t deep enough offensively to have players who struggle

The Cavs don’t have anyone outside of their four big names, Sexton, Garland, Love, and Osman, who can carry the offensive load. If they struggle, there is no real fifth option. Andre Drummond will clean up on the boards but if he’s your top scorer for a game, you’ve messed up.

Cavs can’t start slow if they want to win

The mistakes of the game compounded all night and that’s part of the reason they lost. Those mistakes, however, were most evident in the first quarter. For right now, it’s fair to say that the Cavs with a lead are hard to beat, but from behind aren’t much of a threat. They got in trouble for a single quarter and stopped executing J.B. Bickerstaff’s vision almost immediately. That can’t happen.