Cavaliers: Turnovers and no 3-point shot sinks team against Lakers

The Cavaliers fell to the Lakers on Monday to the tune of 115-108 to drop the Cavs to 8-9 on the season, failing all game to contain LeBron James.

The Cavaliers had an answer for nine different Lakers on Monday, unfortunately, it was the 10th Laker that poised the biggest problem. That 10th Laker was none other than LeBron James. James went off to a tune of 46 points, doing most of his damage in the 4th quarter, and dropping seven of 11 shots from behind the arc. Several of those three-point shots came in the waning moments of the game, a game that the Cavs desperately clutched at until the very last 30 seconds.

Because of that, the Cavs lost and fell to 8-9 on the season.

The Cavs had no answer for James defensively, torching Isaac Okoro most of the game. That’s nothing to shake a stick at, it’s James, one of the greatest players in the game’s history. The problem that does fall at the feet of Okoro and other Cavs players was the inability to return the shot when James nailed a three.

The Cavs remain one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the league, having only two in the top-43 in the league in three-point field goal percentage. As a team, the Cavs are 21st with a percentage of 35.3% A figure that should go up when All-Star Kevin Love returns to the lineup, which may not be until February according to some.

The Cavs need to be able to return volleys when other teams break the Cavs stellar defense and start hitting threes. When a man hit’s a fade-away three-point shot with two men on him, that’s the best you can do there. If he hits it, he hits it. You can’t ask for better defense.

You can, however, ask for a better offense.

Here are four points from the game you might find interesting.

Let Cedi Osman spin, coach!

Cedi Osman in his last six games is averaging 17 points per game, hitting 47% from the floor and 43% from three-point, 90% from the free-throw line, and also averaging 3.7 assists, 3.0 rebounds. Osman has become the number two-guy next to Collin Sexton; making the duo SexMan. Yup. Frankly, I liked “Cedi and Collin solve spooky mysteries” but as a tandem nickname goes, it’s a bit wordy.

Isaac Okoro has a nickname.

It’s Eddy because that’s where offense goes to never be seen again. Okoro is shooting just 37% from the floor in the last six games, and an even worse 30% from three. Granted, Okoro was an offensive vacuum coming out of college, this was not only expected, but we screamed about it on Twitter and every Auburn fan said “he’ll get good”. Every chance he could, but right now he’s awful. Not only is he awful, but he’s settling for three-point shots in the half-court offense. Sure, on transitions he goes to the rim most times, but otherwise, defenses play off of him, because they don’t respect him.

Darius Garland doesn’t fit on this team defensively

Darius Garland isn’t terrible offensively, at least not anymore but he’s still a huge liability defensively. Despite the Lakers guards being as adequate as a public attorney during a murder trial, Garland still couldn’t lock anyone down. The team would be wise to consider moving him for a second-round pick and a veteran point guard. Garland might be a good player one day but it won’t be next to Collin Sexton.

Collin Sexton can score but can he pass?

So, kudos to Collin Sexton. He tried his best to be a pure point guard. He did have four assists, which people praised on Twitter like it’s a huge deal. It’s not. Lonzo Ball doesn’t have a layup to his name and wakes up dropping 7 assists a game. Imagine what Ball could do with Sexton’s offensive capabilities. The problem with Sexton as a passer is that he pooches the ball too often. He had four turnovers against the Lakers. He’s averaging three turnovers in his last six games and 4.7 assists. Those differential needs to improve if he’s going to lead the team as a ball handler.

Bonus

This team needs Larry Nance Jr. healthy.