Cavaliers struggle in second half, lose 121-99 to L.A.
The Cleveland Cavaliers were outscored 69-50 in the second half as the Los Angeles Clippers ran away with a 22-point win.
Things appeared to be going fairly well in the first half for the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday night. Cleveland was only down 3 points going into the half against a superior Clippers team on the second half of a back-to-back. There was hope that the Cavs could pull off the upset and get back to .500 on the season. Once the second half began it was a different story. The Clippers extended their lead to double-digits and stayed at or above that number for the remainder of the half. As the 4th quarter progressed the lead only grew to 20+ and the final score read 121-99.
Besides a shockingly low amount of three-pointers taken (10), there was not an area Cavaliers clearly struggled in. Cleveland made 44.6% of their field goal attempts, had double the amount of steals (8-4), half the turnovers (8-16), and had 22 more points in the paint than the Clippers (58-36). What this came down to yet again for the Cavs is three-point shooting. Los Angeles went 20-34 from deep while Cleveland was 4-10, completely erasing any advantage that the Cavaliers had down low. This game should be a wake up call for their offensive strategy as playing like the three-point line doesn’t exist simply isn’t getting it done.
Collin Sexton led the Cavs scoring effort with 27 points on 11 of 21 from the field. Sexton made his only three-point attempt and all four shots from the free throw line. Darius Garland added 23 points of his own on a 11-18 shooting night, also making his only attempt from deep. Andre Drummond was the only other Cavs player to crack the 10 point scoring mark, finishing with 13 points on a lackluster 4-13 shooting effort. Cedi Osman also added 9 points while Jarrett Allen and Lamar Stevens both had 7 points each.
