Cavs Top 3: Cedi Osman shines in the ashes of the Cavaliers defense

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Atlanta Hawks in a lopsided affair.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are spiraling without Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and Dean Wade’s ability to provide defense both inside and out. The Cavs were able to get a great shooting day from Cedi Osman, and he even had a nice outing on defense, compared to the rest of the starters anyway.

Osman had a great shooting day but that’s about the lone complement this team can have. With the aforementioned trio of bigs out, plus Rajon Rondo, the Cavs’ defense has fallen in on themselves. It’s become one of the most disastrous collapses in some time.  It’s purely on the injuries, admittedly. This team isn’t just regressing.

Well, Caris LeVert is, but he’s an isolated incident.

The Cavs are having a hard time keeping up with teams at the moment, and it’s beyond obvious just by watching the lack of defensive efficiency. After all, the team that rose to such heights did so with a healthy Ricky Rubio, and he’s no longer on the team, let alone able to play. Plus it’s become pretty apparent that Collin Sexton would be very helpful right about now.

While LeVert has done an admirable job filling in, Sexton is a much more efficient scorer than LeVert and defensively the two are a wash.

All in all, neither man would’ve done much for the team against the Hawk. They shot nearly 50% from the floor and 44% from three. It’s hard to sit here and say LeVert’s ineffectiveness, Kevin Love’s shooting woes, or Cedi Osman’s lack of defense was the reason they lost on Thursday.

Frankly, it was all of it. A single collective collapse.

The Cavs lost 131-107, and have fallen to 42-35 on the year.

Cavs Top 3:

1. Moses Brown
2. Darius Garland
3. Cedi Osman

Moses Brown earns the first point for a solid offensive effort. It’s hard to criticize his lack of defense when that was a universal team problem but it wasn’t good. Still, he had 15 points and 13 rebounds, which isn’t bad. His -23 BPM however is.

The two points go to Darius Garland, while he tied for a team-low in BPM at -23, alongside Brown, Garland did have 18 points and eight assists. Sure, he only shot 33% but again, this game was awful and we’re looking for any rays of sunshine.

Lastly goes to the man who the Cavs seemingly forgot about in Cedi Osman. His defense has been putrid the last few weeks, and that’s partly why he isn’t playing, but he’s still an offensive force when called upon. He had a team-high 21 points, while also pulling down six rebounds and dish out four assists.

Yearly Standing:

1. Darius Garland (91 points)
2. Jarrett Allen (68 points)
3. Kevin Love (63)
4. Lauri Markkanen (58 points)
5. Evan Mobley (51 points)
6. Cedi Osman ( 39 points)
7. Ricky Rubio (32 points)
8. Isaac Okoro (18 points)
9. Dean Wade (10 points)
10. (*Tied*)Caris LeVert & Lamar Stevens & Rajon Rondo (6 points)
11. Brandon Goodwin (3 points)
12. (*Tied*) Moses Brown & Dylan Windler (1 point)