Cavs Top 3: Darius Garlands’ 51 overshadowed by poor bench play and awful defense

The Cleveland Cavaliers need to improve their bench play amid a four-game skid.

When Darius Garland is on fire, he’s certainly on fire. He’s come a long way since the time he was a young rookie and statistically the worst player in the NBA. I wrote him off, not sure what he could be. I’m glad I’m not making the decisions for the Cleveland Cavaliers, because I may not have kept him. Seeing him drop 51 against the Minnesota Timberwolves was poetic. Seeing the rest of the team fail to do anything else, was not.

The Cavs have now lost four in a row, but not due to a lack of effort on the team’s behalf, they are just slumping; and hard. The team was without Jarrett Allen, Dean Wade, and Donovan Mitchell on Sunday, so that didn’t help matters, but they also didn’t see a lot of help from the bench.

When the Cavs are on, Kevin Love and Cedi Osman are firing, when they’re not, the team isn’t. It’s really that simple. Aside from that, the defense on the perimeter isn’t good. Depending on whose stats you look at, you see two very different stories being told. According to the Defensive Box+/-, Caris LeVert is playing below average on defense (-0.1), but his RAPTOR paints him as a demi-god (+2.1). So which is it?

The same goes for Evan Mobley, however. He’s got a DBPM of +1.3, but a RAPTOR of -1.3. So which stat is telling the truth on Mobley? He’s not been his same self, LeVert has looked good and not good; sometimes in the same game. Isaac Okoro is great defensively but is such a slog on the offense, that he’s nearly unusable. The team is a bit of a mess. Though it’s nowhere near time to panic. Streaks like this happen. If the Cavs drop six or seven in a row, then it’s time to reassess what we’re doing, but a four-game losing streak is not the time to freak out.

Cleveland Cavaliers top 3 vs. the Golden State Warriors

1 Point – Isaac Okoro

He didn’t put up a lot of points (barely any) but Isaac Okoro played nearly 30 minutes and was one of four players (Garland, Kevin Love, and Robin Lopez being the others), who had a positive box+/- on the night. That’s not all, not only did Okoro have a positive BPM, but he led the team with a +15.

2 Points – Kevin Love

It was either Kevin Love or Cedi Osman here and while Osman shot better from the floor, Love was a better all-around impact. He posted 14 points, on less efficiency than Osman had, with one more rebound than Osman (five to four) and two more assists (four to two), plus posted a better BPM (+6 to -1).

3 Points – Darius Garland

He scored 51 points, what more needs to be said?

Cavs Top 3 Seasonal Standings

1. Donovan Mitchell – 24 Points
2. Jarrett Allen – 12 Points
3. Kevin Love – 10 Points
4. Darius Garland & Cedi Osman- 7 Points
5. Caris LeVert – 5 points
6. Evan Mobley – 4 Points
7. Dean Wade  – 3 Points
8. Isaac Okoro – Point