The shorthanded Cleveland Cavaliers stumbled down the stretch in a 111-102 loss to the Indiana Pacers, their 11th straight loss.
The Cleveland Cavaliers were without Darius Garland, Kevin Love, Cedi Osman, and Isaiah Hartenstein in Monday night’s contest against the Indiana Pacers. Considering that the Cavs were able to keep it close with the game tied as late as midway through the 4th, it is easy to think that if those three players were available that Cleveland would have avoided their 11th consecutive loss.
Collin Sexton was the leading scorer for the Cavaliers with 25 points on the night, 10 of which came from the free throw line. While the point total is not bad, it is how Sexton got to it that is the problem. Sexton went 7-26 from the field including 1-6 from three-point range. There is no doubt that Cleveland being without some key players led to this volume of shots, but the fact of the matter is that it is not that much more than his usual shot total. Missing almost 20 shots in a game is simply unacceptable and is simply losing basketball.
The Cavaliers second-leading scorer was rookie Isaac Okoro. Okoro finished with 22 points, making 8 of 20 shots. Okoro also finished with 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal. Like Sexton, it was not a great shooting night for Okoro. In a perfect world Okoro takes at most two-thirds of this shot total on the high end. But then again, last night was far from a perfect world for Cleveland.
In what has been a surprising stretch, Dean Wade finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds on a 6-13 shooting effort. Wade appears to be someone who can carve out a role on this team in the future. The Cavaliers could find a way to incorporate the 24-year old power forward in a backup or role playing capacity at some point.
