The Cavs couldn’t get anything going in this one-sided loss.
The Golden State Warriors set the tempo early. They opened the game with a 7-0 scoring run that was indicative of how things would play out. The Cleveland Cavaliers put up some resistance to close the first quarter but weren’t able to get that going through halftime. They couldn’t establish a consistent offense and weren’t able to provide much resistance defensively to make it a competitive game. Golden State cruised to an easy 96-85 victory.
This isn’t the Cavs’ Summer League team from last season. There is a lack of interior defense and on-ball creation to make a team work. Craig Porter Jr. was supposed to provide some of the on-ball juice to give this team structure. He’s provided aggressiveness, but the Cavs need more than that.
Porter led the team in scoring (14) and shot attempts (16). There was an emphasis on pushing the ball in transition and taking threes. He connected on three of his nine attempts from deep by aggressively hunting his outside shot. This is exactly what you want to see in Summer League considering he was hesitant to shoot at the end of last season.
Porter’s issues came in other areas. The feel for the game that we’ve come to expect wasn’t there. He also wasn’t able to get downhill and create for others as he shot 2-7 inside the arc and 1-5 near the restricted area with three assists. The aggressiveness seemed to have come at the expense of getting others involved. That said, the others didn’t exactly show they deserved more of an opportunity.
Luke Travers displayed some of the concerns that plagued him in previous Summer Leagues and in the NBL. It’s difficult to make it as a wing who can’t shoot and create off-the-dribble. The soft skills he showed in the win against the Milwaukee Bucks were still present, but those attributes weren’t able to overcome his lack of usefulness in the half-court offense. Travers finished seven points on 3-9 shooting with two boards and no assists.
Emoni Bates couldn’t get anything going on offense as he put up 13 points on 4-11 shooting with no assists. Jaylon Tyson had his most nondescript game of Summer League so far as he registered just four points on six attempts with four helpers and four boards. Hunter Cattoor provided 12 points on 4-9 shooting from deep with two steals.
It’s dangerous to make too many sweeping conclusions from Summer League. That’s especially true in a lopsided game. All three of the Cavs’ summer exhibitions have been decided by double digits. We’ll see if that changes when they take on the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.
