Isaac Okoro’s clutch playmaking helped the Cavs bring down the Celtics.
The Cleveland Cavaliers experienced their first losing streak of the season. The two losses to the Atlanta Hawks were so bad that Kenny Atkinson said on Sunday that he told his daughter, “We could lose 15 in a row.”
That was a bit of an overreaction, but it speaks to how poorly things went for much of this week outside of Donovan Mitchell’s 20-point fourth quarter that lifted the Cavs over the Boston Celtics.
The Hawks played well in their two showings against the Cavs. They deserve credit for that. But, there’s no reason to act like they’re a good team or one that presented particular problems the Cavs don’t have the personnel to solve. There’s a reason they’re 19th in point differential and offensive rating.
Cleveland’s defense was a glaring issue in both games. They weren’t good at the point of attack and then over helped leaving shooters wide open on the perimeter.
Atlanta took advantage of this. They repeatedly got the Cavs' defense in rotation and kept swinging it around the perimeter until they got a wide-open three. Forty-one of Atlanta’s 76 three-point attempts came without a Cavalier within six feet of the shooter. The Hawks converted these at a higher rate than you’d expect (48.8%), but you can’t be surprised when NBA players make open shots after you dare them to do so.
It’s a make-or-miss league. The Cavs couldn’t make enough outside shots to keep up. That will happen. But, you’re much more likely to put yourself in a position to get outshot when you simply aren’t defending the three-point line well.
The Celtics weren’t at full strength and the Cavs didn’t exactly play their best game, but there’s no such thing as a bad win against Boston. They were down 14 near the end of the third quarter and found a way to win. You can point to Boston’s horrendous fourth-quarter offensive process that prioritized trying to attack Darius Garland instead of sticking with what built the lead as part of the reason why the Cavs were able to come back. Still, they executed down the stretch when they needed to.
Atkinson said that he wanted to see how his team responded to adversity and what would happen when they weren’t outshooting their opponent before the game. He got his answer a few hours later. His team can grind out wins even when they don’t have their best stuff. That’s especially true for Mitchell who turned around a horrendous shooting night.
There aren’t many teams who can beat Boston without throwing their best punch for four straight quarters. One good 12-minute run was all the Cavs needed.
The Cavs have now played the Celtics twice and showed they belong on the same floor as them each time. Few other teams can say something similar. That is encouraging even if there are still many areas the Cavs need to clean up.
Allen’s issues are on both ends of the floor against Boston. He had a difficult time closing out to Boston’s bigs on the perimeter. It’s part of the reason why Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis accounted for 12 of Boston’s 21 wide-open three-point looks. More often than not, both are going to make you pay for that kind of defense against them.
Conversely, Allen hasn’t been able to have success offensively against the Celtics’ switching defense. Unlike Evan Mobley, who had a quiet game on Sunday but still generated good looks, Allen doesn’t attack the mismatches or make this presence felt like you’d need him to in order to justify his place on the court.
Every move the Cavs make in the next few years will be looked through the prism of whether or not it makes it more likely they can get past Boston. There’s no reason to move on from Allen after a few bad regular season games, but this is something to monitor going forward. Allen simply has to do a better job in this matchup than he has in his past two outings.
Atkinson has understandably received criticism for his handling of the end of the Boston game. The Cavs started fouling up three with 17 seconds left to make sure the Celtics didn’t get a three-point look. His strategy ended up working.
“I didn’t used to be a foul guy,” Atkinson said. “The more evidence we’re getting from NBA data and our people [changed my mind].”
This isn’t entertaining and the league should do something to try to get this out of the game. However, it would be stupid not to foul up three under the current rules. Atkinson understands this.
The Celtics have consistently tried to get away with hiding a big on a guard that isn’t known as an offensive weapon. In their first matchup, it was Criag Porter Jr. who exploited this. This time, it was Okoro who made the game-sealing play by finding Mobley after Mitchell made the correct pass.
“If they’re going to guard you with Kristaps, [Okoro] being able to play in the half roll, being able to make those decisions, I think that’s what’s going to elevate us as a group,” Mitchell said. “That was beautifully [done]. That’s what we worked on all summer. Getting in there and making the right read. Not panicking. That’s the growth I love to see.”
The Cavs have struggled with late-game offense in previous seasons. Finding little ways to attack what the defense gives you like this can make the difference in wins and losses as it did against Boston.
