Player Grades - Cavs vs Pacers
Cavs didn’t bring it tonight.
The Cleveland Cavaliers combined poor shooting with worse effort in their 108-93 loss to the Indiana Pacers. We all understand this game doesn’t hold any sweeping indictments on the team as a whole. So let’s vent our frustrations from tonight and get this one over with, shall we?
Grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.
Darius Garland
20 points (7-16 shooting), 7 assists, 4 turnovers
Garland followed up his 40-point performance with half as many points against Indiana in a game that felt worse than the box score suggests.
The Cavaliers offense was in the mud all night. A full-court press from the Pacers disrupted everything, leading to a measly 18 points in the entire third quarter from Cleveland. Garland deserves a hefty share of the blame. His four turnovers led the way for Indiana’s defensive charge.
Grade: D
Donovan Mitchell
19 points (7-17 shooting), 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 turnovers
Mitchell hasn’t scored 20+ points in a game since Dec. 31. At some point, the team will need their leading scorer to... well, lead them in scoring again. It hasn’t seemed to matter much with the Cavs winning despite Mitchell’s slump. But tonight, the Cavs sorely missed him.
This game was begging for someone to deliver a flurry of scoring. Mitchell was unable to free himself from Indiana’s defense and as a result, Cleveland went down without a fight.
Grade: D-
Evan Mobley
16 points (7-11 shooting), 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal
I will tell you that Mobely was a bright spot in this game for the first half. He was aggressive, burrowing his way to the rim and opening the night with a confident three-pointer.
What followed was partially out of his control. Cleveland’s defense couldn’t contain the point of attack — thus putting Mobley in rotation and straining his capabilities to their limits.
Worse, Mobey began to fall into the same offensive quicksand as the rest of his teammates. His dribbles went nowhere as the Pacers successfully held him at bay in the second half. Mobley had no solution.
Grade: D
Jarrett Allen
11 points (3-6 shooting), 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block
I think Jarrett Allen was the best player on the floor for Cleveland. That might not be saying much, but his handful of offensive rebounds felt like the only thing keeping the Cavs afloat during that brutal third quarter. It wasn’t enough — but Allen willed his way to the free throw line, collected rebounds, and took care of the ball. That’s more than anyone else can say.
Grade: C+
Dean Wade
3 points (1-5 shooting), 9 rebounds, 1 assist
Was Wade on the court tonight? I guess his nine rebounds would suggest that yes, he was. But it wasn’t easy to notice him. His defensive effort was overshadowed by his inability to handle the ball once Cleveland was hit by the full-court press. Wade was kept off the floor during that debacle — and when he returned, his missed three-pointers closed the door on any hope of a comeback.
Grade: D
Max Strus
3 points (1-6 shooting), 4 rebounds, 2 turnovers
There are gonna be nights where Max Strus doesn’t have it. The problem is, the team can’t afford that to happen on the same night everyone else is struggling too. Strus went 1-6 from the floor and wasn’t able to help them overcome the press.
Grade: F
Caris LeVert
2 points (0-3shooting), 4 rebounds, 2 assists
The Cavs turned to LeVert for 23 minutes tonight as they desperately tried to find a spark. Unfortunately, he didn’t provide one on the defensive or offensive end. I don’t think LeVert did anything particularly damaging but he certainly didn’t turn the tides in the right direction, either.
Grade: D-
Georges Niang
7 points (3-6 shooting), 2 turnovers
Let’s give credit where it’s due. Niang was moving his feet and working relentlessly on defense in the first half.
Then in the second half, he turned in some of the worst minutes of his career. He was unplayable against the full-court press, taking part in one of the most frustrating sequences of the night. Concurrently, his defensive effort fell apart as Indiana began to gain momentum.
Grade: F
Sam Merrill
3 points (1-5 shooting), 5 assists
This game felt like it was going in Merrill’s direction in the first half. He drilled a three, broke down the defense and dished out a few highlight assists. Had the rest of his team not fallen apart, Merrill might have turned in a great performance.
Instead, Merrill’s night ended in the same murky water as his teammates. But because he was more helpful than most — he’ll get an even grade.
Grade: C
Isaac Okoro
3 points (1-5 shooting), 2 assists
This game had none of the makings of an “Isaac Okoro” game. The Cavs offense was in the gutter — they couldn’t break full-court pressure — and the defense wasn’t going to be fixed by one guy trying harder than everyone else. In other words, the problems that emerged in this game were above Okoro’s pay grade.
Still, you can always ask for better results. Maybe a momentum-building three-point shot or a gritty defensive play to spark a run. We got the latter, with Okoro rejecting a shot that led to a fastbreak opportunity. But as you’d guess, the momentum was quickly squandered.