Cavs Top 3: Sloppy ball control sinks great effort from Collin Sexton and Darius Garland

The Cavs lost to the Hornets after sloppy ball contorl.

You can’t blame the scoring, but you can blame the ball control. Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, and Larry Nance combined for a total of nine turnovers, which ended up negating the impressive and efficient scoring night. Sexton on his own had four, while Nance Jr. had two, and Garland had two. This caused the Cavs to lose 108-102 to the Hornets.

Credit where it’s due for Sexton, he took eight three-pointers tonight, one of his more impressive attempts this season. The problem is he only hit three of them, giving him a weak night of shooting of just 37%. It’s a valiant attempt for sure but it’s not exactly a good showing. Not when the Cavs only lost by a handful of points. If you’re going to take those shots, you need to be able to hit them. Working on his three-point game is a must in today’s NBA.

The upside of the game is that the team’s two centers, Jarrett Allen and Isaiah Hartenstein, combined to shoot 11-11 for a total of 25 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, and a block. Allen has been struggling a bit and while defensively he struggled against the Hornets at times, he looked much more confident than in games past.

Top 3 Game Performers.

1 Point – Collin Sexton

When you score 28 points in a game, but you still have a +/- of -4, that means you weren’t very good at controlling the ball. Considering he’s one of the more ball-dominant guards on the team, the Cavs can’t afford for him to have nights like this.

2 Points – Jarrett Allen/Isiah Hartenstein

Technically, this means each guy gets one point, but my column, my rules. Both men played great in relief of one another and the tandem should be kept together for as long as possible as they are proving to be a force.

3 Points – Darius Garland

Darius Garland had 27 points, six assists, four rebounds, and compared to Sexton, a much better night of controlling the ball. That’s it. That’s all he needed to do to get three points tonight. The Cavs were really sad to watch in the second half. Shocking.