Cleveland Cavaliers Lose Thriller To San Antonio Spurs

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost in an overtime thriller to the San Antonio Spurs, 118-115. That is their second loss to a potential NBA Finals opponent within the week.

It’s been a tough week for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

They redeemed themselves from the annihilation by the Golden State Warriors by defeating the Phoenix Suns on Thursday. However, on Saturday, they couldn’t finish the San Antonio Spurs without Pau Gasol or Tony Parker down the stretch, and lost in overtime.

This makes the second time in a week they’ve lost to a potential Finals opponent.

Once again, the Cavaliers failed to play defense for 48 minutes. LaMarcus Aldridge and David Lee got anything they wanted in the post. It’s a miracle Gasol didn’t play because the game would have ended in regulation.

They didn’t box out or give the Spurs any resistance towards the basket. It was like watching practice on some of their possessions. They were that open.

Just as I’ve mentioned for the last two years, and recently, the Cavaliers need a center. Tristan Thompson is one of the best rebounders in the NBA, but his size is an issue.  Taller, longer big men play over him and there’s nothing he can do about it.

Aldridge was scoring inside at will, and he even hit a few midrange shots. They exposed the interior of the Cavs badly.

The “three-point shooting team” label has come true. As the saying will go until the end of time, you live by the three, you die by the three. It’s the biggest reason I despise it.

Fans will bring up the Warriors using it successfully, but along with shooting threes, they play suffocating, tough defense on opposing teams. The shots they miss, they make up for it on the defensive end of the floor.

Unfortunately, the Cavs rely heavily on their three-point attempts going in. If they don’t, they’ll continue shooting. Some opportunities are wide open– while others are bad shots.

It stops the offensive flow, and misses lead to long rebounds for opposing teams. In order for the Cavaliers to succeed, they must have constant ball movement. They have to spread the floor to get the best opportunity to score.

The acquisition of Kyle Korver will force this even more. The best way to utilize his shooting is by ball movement. I don’t know what has caused the Cavaliers to shy away from this, but it’s starting to become an issue.

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They’re playing like a young, rebuilding franchise with all the one-on-one that’s happening in each game. They don’t look like a championship team.

I understand it’s a January game, but if you don’t work on the simple things, you’ll lose those contests in June too. It has to start somewhere.

This game came down to missed shots, miscommunication and turnovers by the Cavaliers. They weren’t on the same page with plays, and it led to them being broken.

According to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, on the second-to-last play for the Cavaliers in overtime, Kyrie Irving and Thompson botched a play where Thompson was supposed to set a backscreen for Irving to run in the corner as LeBron James would pass him the ball for the open three-point shot. Instead, it led to James accumulating his seventh turnover on a tough passing night.

The play is known as “punch-snap-hammer.”

"“As a ball club that’s trying to win a championship, we can’t have you go from a timeout to the court and forget what you’re supposed to do,” James said. “It’s that simple.”"

James and Irving tried all they could to keep the Cavaliers into the game, but they needed that third option to step up.

I’m talking to you, Kevin Love.

I don’t want to be harsh since he’s been dealing with lower back issues all season, but he’s got to make open three-point shots. The Spurs gave him a gift at the end of overtime, but he missed the basket by a mile. Air ball.

It dampened the otherwise good performance by Love. He finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. He struggled from long range, only going 3-for-11.

The Cavs dont get their attempt at revenge against the San Antonio Spurs until March. They have issues that must be addressed and fixed at that time.

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There’s no need to worry or panic, but the Cavaliers need to find that consistency within their game again.