End of the road for the Cavs. What next?

The Celtics execute the game perfectly. A brief look at the Cavs options going forward

The Cavs are now officially the first eliminated team of the 2nd round. We’ll talk first about the game 5, and then see their past and future.

BOS - CLE Game 5

The gameplan for this game was obvious from the start of the game.

Attack Darius Garland - Great game plan by the Celtics

The only Cavs’ healthy point guard was an obvious target. He is also the weakest defensive link for the Cavs.

It was mostly Derrick White who played versus Garland in isolations, but other Cs starters gave it a go as well. And if they weren’t able to score over him, the defense collapsed quicker than than a poorly built house of cards. That caused rotations, and rotations cause open 3-pointers. If they didn’t attack him straight on, they constantly brought Garland to defend the screen.

That turned out to be a lot more dangerous, as Garland often got stuck in the screens, and the Celtics had open shot. If he didn’t get stuck, they didn’t want Garland to switch onto Brown/Tatum (who usually started the action) but rather the Cavs hedged, well the hedge worked extremely poorly and resulted in various defensive breakdowns.

The other pretty strong note that the Celtics insisted was to attack on the opposite side of Mobley. Evan Mobley contested only 8 shots, as the Celtics constantly drove on the opposite side of him, thus causing other players to collapse onto the driver and then have an open kick out pass.

The Celtics played the game to perfection. Even when the game got closer, as Marcus Morris kept hitting some insane shots over people, they didn’t revert to 18 second dribbling and then chucking a shot, no.

This is a great example of such play, I downloaded it from the NBA’s site, so the start is cut off, but Tatum first calls Pritchard to screen for him, then uses another high screen to get extra space and get a comfortable and I’d say wide open pull up shot over Mobley out of all people, but Morris is just to slow to recover from the screen. This is a game where I liked the Celtics game the most out of the entire series perhaps (other than Game 1, which was a blow out).

Dean Wade experiment

Yeah, the Wade experiment was a failure as well. I really thought he might help, and he was okay in the 1v1 situations. But when he and Garland were involved in the screen action, both of them got completely lost, that allowed the Cs to completely pull away in the 4th quarter. Offensively, he didn’t bring any spark as well, so unfortunately this can be considered a failed experiment.

Forced and idealess Cavs’ offense

First half was really great, I loved how Strus and Mobley played in the empty side, they created some easy shots. Mobley was also a part of multiple handoffs, mostly with Strus, but some directly with shooters like Merrill.

And Strus seemed like more aggressive and concrete than Garland in the 1st half.

Then, all of that just stopped in the 2nd half. Garland kept going at Horford, kept missing, or getting blocked. And he did manage to find Mobley for 2 or 3 easy situations, but most of the time it was Mobley being aggressive and creating a shot for himself. All of that off-ball motion and great plays on the empty side just disappeared, and I’m not sure who’s to blame. Garland for being stubborn? Bickerstaff for allowing it? The others for being passive? Or was the Celtics’ defense just too good?

One of the reasons for poor offense is probably the fact that Garland was just tired, as I said in the first “section”, Garland was consistently involved on the defensive side. He could never “rest” for a possession by sitting in the corner, the Celtics just didn’t allow it. But then again, Bickerstaff could have pre-switched those actions?

Aggressive Mobley

One of the few positives coming from this loss, the entire series, is that we get to see a completely new face of Mobley. The one that is almost never seen, where he is aggressive, looking for the ball, and creating a shitload of shots for himself. This was always the main question not only about him, but the entirety of the Cavs team, as he is the enabler of the team.

And Mobley showed a plethora of his moves, his shot chart and types of shots tell that as well. As with Paolo Banchero in the first round, Mobley kept playing better and better as the playoffs kept on going. Given that he had a huge burden on the defensive side, and was one of the most impressive defenders in the entire playoffs, I’m more than thrilled with his overall playoff performance. It’s a good sign for the future, and I hope the Cavs have full trust in him.

What Next?

What happens with Mitchell? What happens with Bickerstaff? What about Garland? What about the role players - perhaps the biggest question, if you ask me?

People too often focus on the stars of the team, but Mobley and Allen could work. Garland and Mitchell could work. But they need a solid surrounding cast around them. They need someone who can explode from the 3-point range, other than Mitchell and Garland, because they’re more than expected to do so.

Strus was supposed to be that player, but he can’t knock it down as reliably as some other designated shooters can (White, MPJ, Washington, DiVincenzo, etc…). And it’s not that I don’t like Strus, he’s had some struggles but overall he brought an entire new dimension to the team that was needed, it’s just that he’s not a shooter. And the Cavs solely need one. He’s also obviously much better suited as a 2, not a 3 he plays, and the same goes for Okoro. The Cavs still need another real wing, not a guard.

A trade seems inevitable, but maybe a clean up of the bench could shake things up. I like Caris LeVert, I still like Okoro, despite his indecisiveness on the offense, he’s shown improvement, and I’m 100% certain that if the Cavs were matched with NYK/IND/PHI/MIL he’d have a better and stronger role on defense, as defending stronger wings/forwards doesn’t suit Okoro. But after these two guys, there isn’t much on the bench.

Georges Niang is a miss, TT isn’t good enough for playoff 8 rotation, the same goes for Morris, even though he blew up today, on defense he can’t be neutral enough to stay on the floor. The jury is still out on Dean Wade and Sam Merrill. Wade seems like an ideal fit for this team, and it seemed at times like he might be a crucial piece, but injuries always slowed him down. Merrill also seems like a solid playoff piece, a player who can explode from the 3-point range. But the rest of his offensive arsenal is limited, and he is only 6 foot 4, so another guard. At the moment, he’s a poor man’s Duncan Robinson, from 3 years ago.

Let’s go in some hypothetical talk now.

What if we get a coaching change?

This core has shown progress, compared to the last season, they’ve shown improvement, some players have shown growth (Okoro, Mobley, Allen), Strus still fits the team well, as a 2, and the playoff rotation consists of 3 good players, 3 great players, and 1 elite player (Mitchell).

It’s up to ownership and management to determine whether they want to roll with JB as time goes on. He did have some mishaps, but the team had a bunch of injuries. I’m always a believer in consistency if the progress is shown. And some progress is there.

What if a trade happens?

The Cavs don’t have many FA decisions, the only one is Okoro. I hope they retain him, if the price is right, as his offensive game is constantly improving. Other than that, they don’t have any decisions other than to give as much as they can to Mobley. They don’t/won’t have cap space, but they have plenty of trade chips.

As mentioned earlier, I’m not ready to give up on Garland, as many people start to do so after this playoff series. Garland lost 20 pounds in the middle of the season. And if you ever tried to do any athletic activity for a prolonged time (not play professional basketball, I’m talking about preparing for a 5k run race, cycling race, playing hoops 5 times a week, etc…) then you know how hard it is to gain that weight back when continuously working out, especially if you are lean genetically (like Garland).

I’m certain he’ll rebound the next season, but if we’re wondering whether a different player could fit next to him/Mitchell, for sure it would.

If Mitchell doesn’t plan to re-sign, I would call the Nets right away and ask for Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson and/or Dorian Finney-Smith. While Bridges is also only 6ft6, his wingspan is massive, and he can lock up 2-4 proven. It’s a perfect fit.

I still think that Mitchell is by far the best player on the team, but if he doesn’t want to stay with the Cavs, the only way to go is to turn toward the Mobley and try to grow him into the 1st option. Bridges, Johnson, and DFS would all fit perfectly with this team, DFS would be a (hopefully) healthy Wade, and the stagger could feel a lot bigger in size if the Cavs decide to roll with Mobley+Allen.

There are other options available on the market (Brandon Ingram and the Pels), but this one perhaps makes the most sense.

The Future is Bright

The future is still bright for the Cavs. The fans should generally feel positive, even though a playoff loss is always tough. The Cavs could’ve very well finished as a 2 or 3 despite all the injuries and troubles throughout the season, and then playoffs. The first playoff series win without LeBron is a positive sign, and people need to cool their heads and minds before the offseason.