CLEVELAND, Ohio – Something strange happened at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Friday night.
The Wizards were in town with the Wine and Gold looking to end a four-game losing streak.
Darius Garland was coming off of back-to-back doubles for the first time in his young career and rookie Isaac Okoro had finally found some consistency on the offensive end of the floor with three straight double-figure performances.
Their lineup was about to get a much-needed shot in the arm as Collin Sexton was back from a concussion.
But when the final horn sounded, Garland was in the locker room nursing an ankle injury, Kevin Love never attempted a shot in 22:08 minutes and the Cavaliers found themselves on the band end of a lopsided 122-93 loss to the Wizards.
“We struggled to score, and they took advantage of it on the other end,” Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “I know it’s difficult for our guys right now, but we can’t afford the excuse of not going out there and competing.”
Garland’s injury served as the moment that triggered the avalanche.
Less than two minutes into the third quarter the Cavaliers were trailing by six when Garland landed on Davis Bertans’ foot, twisting his left ankle.
He hobbled off the floor and never returned after scoring 12 points and handing out three assists.
“He was playing at an extremely high level. It’s sad, disappoint that the injury happened at this point because his confidence was growing,” Bickerstaff said. “He was playing so well. He had the best month of his career so far.”
As the short-handed Cavaliers attempted to deal with yet another injury, the game spiraled out of control from there.
“We have to keep playing. We know how much DG is import to this team,” Cedi Osman said. “We stayed in that moment a little bit and that’s how Washington took advantage and played better in that third quarter.”
Every Cavalier finished with a negative plus/minus rating except for Kevin Love. The glaring statistic is particularly head scratching considering Love didn’t attempt a field goal. He finished the night with 10 rebounds.
“He did a lot of other things tonight that helped us. The simple fact that he had ten rebounds, and he still played well on the defensive side for us,” Sexton said. ”I know he didn’t take a shot but we’re going to continue to ride with him.”
Love was held scoreless back on March 14th, but he only played 1:14 minutes, but Friday night marked the first time since November 19th, 2011, when he was with the Timberwolves, that Love was held without a point where he saw more than 10 minutes of playing time.
"I think tonight was different. The other night he took nine or ten threes, tonight he was looking to impact the game as a facilitator, Bickerstaff said. “We need him to take shots. He’s a big part of our offense. We’ve got to find ways to get him involved, get him some easy ones and then we can grow his game from there.”
Love didn’t speak with the media following Friday night’s loss. But his teammates said they were urging Love to shoot more, particularly when things started to spiral out of control.
“We were telling him to shoot the ball, especially down the stretch.
We just need him to get a few of them up so he can get his rhythm back,” Sexton said. “I know he’s been shooting and side stepping a lot. But we just told him just shoot hit, we don’t care miss or make.”
Sexton paced the Cavaliers with 22 points, seven rebounds and two assists Friday night. Jarrett Allen added 14 points and Cedi Osman chipped in 13 points. Isaac Okoro scored in double digits again with ten points.
Fortunately, the Cavs will get a chance to regroup quickly hosting Miami on Saturday night. Sexton said getting Love involved early will be a priority, especially considering Garland’s status is still unknown.
“We’ll get him give him some trey balls up, so he can get going, especially early. Even if we have to get him a quick little post up,” he said.
Injuries mount as Darius Garland leaves game with left ankle injury
