Recap: Sacramento 129, Cleveland 110 (or, the Worst)

Much like Wednesday’s battle against the Dubs, The Cavs hung with the Kings for two and a half quarters before getting blown out and outscored by 19 in the second half. The Cavs’ six man rotation wasn’t able to hold up long enough mentally and physically to hang with De’Aaron Fox and and Buddy Hield who combined for 55 on 33 shots, including going 9-13 from downtown. If not for a couple garbage time Channing Frye triples this score would’ve looked even worse.

Channing’s late sparks made one ask the question, “If the Cavs had three guys on the deep bench, and the rotation was gassed, why didn’t the pinewarmers play?” This question and many more were on my mind in the second half as I puzzled my way through watching enigmatic Cavs team, who have taken the torch from last years’ Kings as the NBA’s worst team.

To be sure, the late breaking news of a trade had to affect this team, as George Hill was, I’m sure, a late scratch, and the Cavs had to say goodbye to yet another pair of teammates in Hill and Dekker. The pair were reportedly moved to Milwaukee for Delly and John Henson. The Cavs started a lineup of Sexton, Hood, Osman, Nance, and Thompson and were disjointed to start the game. The starters were down as much as 15 in the first before they got it together behind the hot shooting from Jordan Clarkson, Cedi attacking the rack, and seven first quarter points from Nance Jr.

Collin Sexton was awful in the first quarter against Fox. Youngbull stuck to screens like they were made of glue, and was useless against the Cauley-Stein/Fox pick and roll. Sexton and Hood also lost Buddy Hield multiple times. Buddy Buckets is now a premiere NBA shooter shooting 48% from the field and 43% from three. He dropped eight in the first frame. Fox added seven and four dimes. Sexton just couldn’t stay in front of him.

A Cavs’ run kicked off with Sexton on the bench as Jordan Clarkson swished a triple to kick off the second quarter. He’d hit another before the Cavs capped a 13-2 run with a Burks triple and a Cedi drive (below), forcing a Joerger time out. The two minute Bandit (Burks) scored or assisted on every field goal in the (three minute) run to close the first down 38-27.

Sexton returned and was much better, going 6-8 from the field for 14 in nine minutes, getting to the bucket and warming up his jumper. Clarkson was similarly hot, dropping 13 on six shots. The Nance, Osman, Clarkson, Burks, Hood/Sexton lineup was electric and Burks played as the Cavs’ de facto back-up point guard. They clamped down on Hield (1-6) and abused Bagley, Bogdanovic, and Jackson (which sounds like a scary law firm.

Cleveland was whistled for a ridiculous amount of moving screens while Sacramento’s Bjelica was shoving everyone in sight on both ends of the floor with nary a call. Fortunately, the Cavs overcame the refs, and an exclamation point 25-footer by JC ended the half with the score tied at 66.

The third quarter started out with a fun jaunt to the rim by Nance where he faked a right wing trey, then took a bounce, two long steps and flipped a runner off the square. It was followed by De’Aaron Fox standing at the top of the key with no one guarding him, passing, getting the ball back, and still no one within 10 feet of him before he swished a “why the hell not?” three-ball. It took the lid off the basket and he’d make 6-7 in the half. The Cavs were without Rodney Hood who nursed an ailing foot, and it was clear the starters didn’t have their defensive assignments down to start the half.

Sexton “got two back” with a long J on the next possession, and then Cedi just stopped guarding Buddy Hield who calmly dribbled from beneath the basket to the right corner to drain a too open triple. Sexton dribbled too deep lost the ball, and it led to a Buddy Bucket runout.

After Sexton bounced off Fox at the basket for two more Sacramento points, Collin went under a Cauley-Stein screen, and De’Aron smoked a trey. Bjelica dunked 30 seconds later and Larry Drew took a “WTF is this team doing?” timeout to try to step a 13-4 Kings run.

Cleveland missed a trio of triples as Osman just clanked two that were wide open before Hield hit another triple and then blocked Cedi in the right corner. The Cavs traded baskets with the Kings for another few minutes, as Cleveland got to the rim repeatedly, and it looked like the comeback was in full swing when, down six, Cedi got a clear path foul after a steal, but the wine and gold managed just one point out of the possession.

It’s not too late to mention that Jaron Blossomgame was awful in the first half missing two bunnies, and then turned it over the first time he touched the ball in the third. This was in the middle of a two and a half minute scoring drought for Cleveland that saw Osman step out of bounds and Clarkson throw up a cringeworthy layup attempt. Meanwhile, Bagley got loose at the rim twice with he and Nance trading oops to close the quarter with the Kings up a manageable 96-89.

Marvin Bagley started the fourth quarter by scoring on a reverse as he posted up Collin Sexton (why?), and three Cavs stared at him. Most galling was Burks standing right next to him as Bags showed him the ball while Alex did nothing to stop a pretty weak move. On the other end, the Cavs went scoreless over the first 90 seconds, forcing another timeout from Drew after Fox beat Clarkson to the basket for two more.

Sexton scored a 20-footer before a groan inducing putback from Bjelica, another “throw the remote” dribbling turnover from Collin, a dunk by Fox, and an ill-advised “I’m gonna get it back” 16-foot brick from Youngbull. For every good possession Sexton has, he seems to generate an equal or worse number of bad ones.

Bagley dunked and then swatted Clarkson as the Kings’ lead ballooned to 15 and Clarkson started chucking, and Bogdanovic basically put the game on ice with a 32-footer to stretch the lead to 18. Jordan kept chucking, and Sexton and Burks kept giving the ball away as the lead ballooned to 25 after a Marvin Bagley triple. Only a garbage time flurry from Burks, frye, and Blossomgame kept this from being a total second half slaughter.

The Good

The first half was nice. And Alex Burks looked like a competent distributor with 22/7/9 line and only two turnovers. Despite playing 38 minutes, he was just -2 on the night. Jordan Clarkson also was an amazing +12, and was the only ray of offensive competence in the second half with 26 points on 19 shots. He shot and drove the ball well.

Also good? De’Aaron Fox is making Magic look like a fool for drafting Lonzo Ball. Fox looked like the future superstar he appeared to be at Kentucky with a sick 30/2/12 line with just one turnover and +21 on the game. He’s gonna be a good player for a long time.

The Bad

I get the Collin Sexton/Fox comparison. Fox was rough last year, but he was a much better passer than Sexton last season, dropping 5.5 dimes per 36 as opposed to Sexton’s 3.1. Sexton was awful this game, and the worst version of an “I gotta get mine” mentality. Yeah, he scored 23 on 16 shots, but he also added five turnovers to two dimes. Sexton stuck to screens worse than a young Kyrie Irving, getting repeatedly trapped on the other side of the roll man, trailing the guard, or looking like a ragdoll in the post, affecting nothing. In a game the Cavs lost by 19, he was -28. Yikes. I admit I was very negative regarding him in the live thread. I was probably colored by this revelation: he’s last in the league in RPM.

Yeah, the analytics method that I spent two years running a website dedicated to shows Collin as the NBA’s worst player getting minutes. That calculation is colored by the fact he’s a rookie and the fact that the guys he’s playing with have better priors, but Youngbull’s an anathema to winning right now, and this coaching staff seems to be pushing him towards numbers basketball, not winning basketball. Also, good God, someone teach this kid how to guard a pick and roll.

Tristan Thompson decided to mail one in with a low energy 11 and seven performance and joined Nance in the -25 department. At -22 Cedi Osman was hit or miss and mostly miss (1-6 from three). He still looks like he’s trying to do too much.

The Cavs failed at the possession game, getting off just 81 to shots to the King’s 99 despite an almost even rebounding battle, and only 7 more turnovers, I don’t even know how that’s possible.

The Ugly

There’s nothing uglier than Kosta Kuofos’ disgusting shot putt hook.

Larry Drew coached a head scratcher this game. Blossomgame was worthless, and why he didn’t play Jalen Jones who didn’t look completely overwhelmed in his first NBA game, is beyond me. Why we didn’t see Ante or Channing was also a mystery. Yes the Cavs were short on wings, but they weren’t short on bodies. It was a rough night, and the Cavs seemed demoralized throughout. Hopefully the Cavs can recover tonight and get a little bit more mojo in Washington when the Delly 2.0 era starts.