Next man up
The Cavs lost two of their most important players. They’ve only lost one game since.
Friday, December 15th was a dark day in Cavaliers history.
As the then-13-12 Cavs licked their wounds from their third straight loss, a 116-107 outclassing by the Boston Celtics, the world learned that two of those wounds were far worse than anyone had anticipated. The reports came out around 3pm ET.
After running face first into Kristaps Porzingis’s hip the night before (he’s that big of a man), star point guard Darius Garland had broken his jaw. He’d need surgery and would be out at least a month. Evan Mobley, who’d missed the previous four games with knee soreness, would need arthroscopic surgery to remove a “loose body,” in his knee, and would be reevaluated in six to eight weeks.
That was two weeks ago. Cavs fans are still looking at at least another month and a half without Mobley, and likely ten or so more contests (comic) sans Garland.
But “Black Friday,” as some coined it, hasn’t been the disaster nearly all Cavs fans felt it would be. Since losing two of their four most important players, Cleveland is 5-1. Donovan Mitchell, who’s been sick, has only played in two of those games. Neither of them were last night, when Cleveland—Raging Bull style–calmly accepted 20 first quarter points worth of Luka Doncic sucker punchies before crawling back from a 20-point deficit and beating the Mavericks 113-110 in Dallas.
So are the Cavs better without Garland and Mobley? Perhaps without Mitchell, too?
Absolutely not.
But could their absences have sparked something in the Wine & Gold that might take this team to the playoffs?
It just might have.
As anyone who’s been a role player in any group can tell you, there’s something clarifying about losing your stars. With nobody to defer to, nobody better to take the shot or come up with the time-saving idea ahead of project launch, it has to be you. The Cavs are playing with an intensity and sense of personal responsibility born of that understanding.
With Darius gone, Isaac Okoro is attacking the paint, drawing fouls, and dumping off passes to cutters. Per 36 minutes (to adjust for increased playing time), in the last five games Okoro’s assists are up (from 2.8 to 4.1). So are his free throw attempts (from 2.8 to 4.1), and three point shooting (from 37% on 3.7 attempts to 42% on 4.8 attempts). He even hit an above the break three pointer last night!
Without a starting point guard (or backup Ricky Rubio, who may never return from a mental health absence, or third string Ty Jerome, who doesn’t seem like he ever will from a sprained ankle) undrafted rookie Craig Porter Jr. is running the offense and controlling the pace of the game. He’s got big shoes to fill, and he’s put on an extra pair of thick wool socks and done admirably. The new fan favorite is averaging over six assists to just one turnover in the last five games.
Guys like Dean Wade and Sam Merrill, the Utah product who’s been dubbed the Latter Day Sniper, are spacing the floor. Wade’s shooting is back after failing him last season. He’s shooting 38% from deep on the year and 47% in the last five games. Over that span, Merrill is knocking down an absurd 48.5% of his even-more absurd 16 attempts per 36 minutes. He must’ve overloaded his shooting arm after making five threes against Houston and eight against Utah, as he too has missed the last few games with a sprained wrist.
Mobley’s production, including his career high 10.5 rebounds a game, might be even more difficult to replace than Garland’s. But the Cavs, somehow, are doing it. Craig Porter Jr. pulled down 12 rebounds against the Mavs. Ranked 11th on the season, Cleveland is tied for 2nd in the NBA in offensive rebounds since losing Mobley. The whole team is surging into the paint to fill the slender 6’11 hole he left under the basket.
And Jarrett Allen, lest we forget, has been everywhere. Allen had his second career 20-point, 20-rebound game in Dallas, where he finished with 24 points and 23 boards. But while the tenacity with which he hits the glass and his 3rd-in-the-league 66.5% field goal percentage shouldn’t go unheralded, it’s the way he’s passed the ball of late that might deserve most recognition. Filling in for offensive hub Evan Mobley, Allen has reminded fans, many of whom wanted to trade him this summer, that he’s much more than a lob-catching, defense-quarterbacking gentle giant. Look at this dish to open last Saturday’s 127-119 win over Atlanta.
JA has made more impressive passes, and what’s notable about this one is also subtle: Allen perfectly leads Donovan Mitchell into space. If he hits Mitchell on the numbers with this bounce pass, it’s perfectly fine. Spida would catch the ball without much momentum, Trae Young would have another half second to rotate, and the possession would likely end with a Donovan Mitchell elbow jumper or a kick out to Isaac Okoro on the opposite wing. Instead, Allen has the feel to lead Spida into space, and an easy layup. He still playmakes within the system and the framework of set plays, but he’s done so with touch and decision making Allen has rarely shown in a Cavalier uniform.
If losing Garland and Mobley (and Mitchell) has added a few drops of urgency and a hearty dose of responsibility to this mulled Wine & Gold roster, the absence of Cleveland’s brightest has also helped Cavs fans, squinting, to see that Allen had been suppressing his own shimmering talents on behalf of the greater good. Sometimes, in the vacuum, new stars are born, or, in Jarrett’s case, reborn.
Of course, this revelation of effort, intensity, togetherness, and growth means nothing if A) Cleveland can’t show it consistently and B) the Cavs revert to their old selves once Garland and Mobley (and Mitchell) are back.
However, if Cleveland's newfound fire is as durable as Jake LaMotta, and Mobley and Garland’s returns breathe even more life into it, this team could still meet or exceed high pre-season expectations.
We’ll have to wait to get our answers to the second piece of that puzzle, but the Cavs have another chance to further engrain their new identity tonight at 7:30 ET against Milwaukee.
Here’s hoping they seize it.
Cheers, and go Cavs.