The Cleveland Cavaliers were without several key players and still were competitive in a 115-106 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.
This game was always going to be an uphill battle for the Cleveland Cavaliers even if they were 100% healthy. The problem is that they weren’t and ultimately that played a factor in their loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Cleveland was without Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Larry Nance Jr. The lineup that was put together looked more like a surrender lineup than a competitive one. But credit where credit is due, the Cavaliers put up a much bigger fight than anyone could have expected.
Cleveland came out firing with a starting lineup featuring Mathew Dellavedova, Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade, Kevin Love, and Isaiah Hartenstein. The fact the Cavaliers scored 39 points with this starting five is sort of amazing. Cleveland even held a first half lead and played well in the 3rd quarter, holding a 94-90 lead heading into the 4th. The problem is that at some point they were going to run out of gas and that was during the final quarter. Cleveland was outscored 26-15 in the 4th and that lead to what seemed inevitable from the beginning, a Cavs loss.
Game notes
The Cavaliers surprisingly made more three-pointers than the Pelicans (13-7). The fact Cleveland attempted 40 shots from deep is sort of perplexing considering their usual low volume and low 3PT% on the year.
Dean Wade led the Cavaliers in scoring with 21 points, a new career-high. Wade did most of his damage from deep as he made five three-pointers.
Isaac Okoro had himself a nice night offensively, finishing with 19 points on a 6-10 shooting effort including 2-4 from three. Okoro also made all five free throw attempts on the night.
Apparently Kevin Love was on a mission to essentially shoot three-pointers as he went 5-14 in that regard and 1-3 from two. Love was tied with Okoro for the second-highest Cavaliers scoring effort.
Matthew Dellavedova was supposed to be on a minutes restriction, but was on the court the most of any starter (34 minutes). Delly finished 10 assists and 7 points on the night on a pretty ugly shooting effort (3-11).
It was a rare efficient shooting night from Cedi Osman as he went 7-11 and scored 15 points. Osman also had 7 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 steal on the night.
Like many others, Taurean Prince was not a consistent shooter for the Cavaliers. Prince went 4-11 (0-4 3PT) and ended up with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block.
