The poor defense of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the poor choice of their starting lineup ended them by falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves 131-122.
The statistics in the following table come from Cleaning the Glass.
| Effective Field Goal Percentage | Offensive rebound percentage |
Offensive rotation percentage |
Free throw rate |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cavs |
58.8%, 75th percentile |
21.3%, 16th percentile |
12.5%, 72nd percentile |
16.5, 25th percentile |
|
timber wolves |
68.5%, 98th percentile |
16.5%, 33rd percentile |
31%, 61st percentile |
10.1, 5th percentile |
Now, let’s dig into the numbers.
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The Cavs’ starting lineup, with the four center backs and Craig Porter Jr., was -19 in nine and a half minutes.. They were outscored by nine in their five-minute stretch in the first quarter and by 10 in their four-and-a-half minute stretch in the third quarter. There is no situation where you can be outplayed so much at the start of both halves and expect to compete.
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Minnesota made its first seven field goal attempts of the night. This set the tone for a game that they would absolutely control in that regard. The Timberwolves compiled an impressive offensive rating of 127.2 (84th percentile) despite going 9-17 (52.9%) from the charity stripe.
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The Timberwolves were also 18-23 (78.3%) shooting in the restricted area (83rd percentile). Minnesota is good at getting to the rim and deserves credit for that. At the same time, the Cavs didn’t make it particularly difficult for him. Poor defensive rotations and misses that led to open 3-pointers also allowed Minnesota to get to the basket at will.
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The Cavs forced 16 turnovers and outscored the Timberwolves 24-14 in points off turnovers.. Head coach Kenny Atkinson wants his defense to constantly pressure the ball, catch it and deflect it. They did it on Thursday, but the overall defense remained poor. The Cavs are either not good enough to play this style or they don’t understand where the rotations need to be for this defense to produce consistent results. Even when the defense does what it wants, the side effects far outweigh the benefits.
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The Timberwolves were in the 77th percentile in transition points added. This has been a recurring problem for the Cavs. His poor outside shooting (as was the case here) and inconsistent effort have led to this happening.
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The Cavs lost the third quarter by 21 points. It is the most points they have surpassed in a quarter this season. Their previous worst was 19.
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Sam Merrill was 5-11 from three. He almost single-handedly got the Cavs back into the game with his 11 points in the fourth quarter. Merrill has seemingly elevated every aspect of his game this season, including his already lethal outside shot.
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The Cavaliers outside of Merrill went 6-22 (27.3%) in three. That’s simply not a good number for a team whose offense still relies on outside shooting.
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The Timberwolves scored 27 more points from beyond the arc. It’s nearly impossible to overcome such a large margin in three-point shooting, even if you control the paint like the Cavs did.
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Cleveland was 22-29 (75.9%) in the restricted area (76th percentile). Their ability to reach and finish at the rim allowed them to have an offensive production below the league average despite the fact that the three-pointer did not fall. The Cavs outscored the Timberwolves 66-50 in the paint.
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Donovan Mitchell was 8-12 (66.6%) on two-pointers. This is what allowed him to score a game-high 30 points despite going 2-8 from three.
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The Cavaliers are now 5-12 against teams in the top 10 in differential. Until now they have consistently been on the wrong side of these confrontations. By comparison, they went 16-6 against opponents like that last season.
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Cleveland has now tied its loss total for all of last season.. The Cavs recorded their 18th loss in their 82nd game last season. This year they did it at only 39 years old. What a difference a year makes!