Thursday, February 3, 2022

Cavaliers fail liftoff- lose to Rockets 115-104

  The Cleveland Cavaliers made a cardinal mistake when playing a talented but very young team Wednesday night in Houston as the Cavaliers allowed the Rockets to gain confidence early in the game and never looked back as the Rockets surprised the Cavaliers 115-104 in Houston.

Evan Mobley set his season/career-high in the defeat with twenty-nine points to go with twelve rebounds to lead Cleveland in defeat with Kevin Love finishing with twenty-one points and thirteen boards to aid Mobley.

Darius Garland missed his second game with back spasms in the defeat.

Cleveland finishes the back half of a two-game road trip in Charlotte on Friday night against the Hornets.

Swashbucklings

1)  The Rockets have a bunch of good young players that can get up and down the floor but are still developing as professionals and the worst thing that you can do against a talented team is to allow them to get into a rhythm and gain confidence.

That's what happened in this one as the Rockets young player started hitting shots, gained confidence, and outscored the Cavaliers by ten in the second quarter.

2) This was indicated by Houston's three young building blocks (Christian Wood, Jalen Green, and former Cavalier Kevin Porter Jr.) each hitting three three-pointers in the game-many of them deep.

When young players start making the type of shots that you love to see them take from a defensive standpoint, that is a great sign that it may not be your night.

3) I was planning on mentioning soon that the Cavaliers may want to watch Evan Mobley's minutes if they want him to have legs remaining for the postseason.

After all, Mobley played just one year at USC and the fifty-two games that the Cavaliers have played thus far are roughly the same as Mobley's senior year of high school and his USC campaign combined.

4) SO... Naturally, Mobley goes out and notches a career-high twenty points to go with double-digit rebounds.

Still, I do wonder when Mobley will hit the proverbial wall.

5) Mobley also showed a seldom-seen physical side of his game sitting on the block against Rockets rookie Alperen Sengun.

Mobley wasn't afraid to back Sengun down low and put the ball on the floor to drive by his fellow rookie as he bullied him aside.

6) The Rockets are a bad, albeit young and talented team but they had a few things going for them besides the home-court advantage.

Jalen Green, who the Rockets took before Evan Mobley in the draft and has been a disappointment, had to be fired up to face Mobley's team with the publicity around Mobley's rookie season.

And for as long as Kevin Porter Jr is in the league, Porter is going to have a special motivation every time that he faces Cleveland.

Green finished with 21 points and Porter with 16 and each hit three bombs from behind the arc.

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