Cavs Top 3: Jarrett Allen and Kevin Love lead the usual suspects

The Cavs saw big games from Jarrett Allen and Kevin Love.

The Cavs are missing Ricky Rubio, Collin Sexton, and Cedi Osman big time during this stretch of games. The team has seen little in the way of impact from Dylan Windler and Brandon Goodwin, while Lamar Stevens is just not a player that can be relied on to make an offensive impact. That’s why it’s good to see Jarrett Allen and Kevin Love playing as well as they are.

The short-handed Cavs fell to the Grizzlies 110-106 while falling to 21-17 on the season. The team is expected to get back Osman sooner rather than later and should get a boost from incoming point guard Rajon Rondo who’s going to start out getting around 20 minutes a night according to J.B. Bickerstaff. Those additions should help stabilize an otherwise good Cavaliers team.

Then a returning Isaac Okoro should make the Cavs defense even stouter. While things are lean at the moment, it isn’t time to panic.

Cavs get bit by the Grizzlies

Cavs Top 3

1. *Tie* Lauri Markkanen/Darius Garland
2. Kevin Love
3. Jarrett Allen

We’re giving out two one-pointers today because Lauri Markkanen was the only Cavs player that actually made an impact on defense (box +/- of +10), and Darius Garland lead the team in points with 26, while also having a double-double with 10 assists. He only had a box +/- of -3 against Ja Morant but Garland’s defense is still more akin to a toddler holding a pasta strainer while on the Titanic. Plus shooting 34% while taking 26 shots just isn’t a good look.

Kevin Love didn’t shoot much better, shooting just 33% from the floor, but he shot 36% from three-point and was the only Cavs player who shot more than three shots from three-point land to maintain as high of a clip. He finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds. For those reasons, he gets the two points from the game.

Morant challenged Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley all game and it hurt their defensive rating. Allen did finish with 22 points, 12 rebounds, and on crazy good efficiency (11 of 14).  So he’s getting the three points from the game.

Yearly Standing:

1. Jarrett Allen (41 points)
2. Kevin Love (36 points)
3. Darius Garland (34 points)
4. Ricky Rubio (32points)
5. Lauri Markkanen (24 points)
6. Cedi Osman (23 points)
7. Evan Mobley (20 points)
8. Dean Wade (5 Points)
9. Isaac Okoro (4 points)
10. Dylan Windler (1 point)