Well, that was fun, while it lasted. The Cavaliers ended their In-Season Tournament Group Stage Games on Tuesday with a blowout win over the Hawks 128-105. Their 3-1 record was not enough to advance to the Knockout Stage of the Tournament. Well, now what?
Cavaliers can’t score enough
The Cavaliers did not advance on Tuesday because they lost on a tiebreaker of Point Differential. Between the Knicks, Magic, and Cavs, it was a race to see who would come out with the biggest point differential. Unfortunately, the Knicks blew out the Hornets to come out on top. Donovan’s 40 points were not enough. The Cavaliers played their starters deep into the 4th Quarter to try to run up the points, and that might have had other effects.
Cavaliers Run out of Gas in 4th
The Blazers were not pressing for an In-Season Tournament Knockout berth this week. They pulled off a 114-110 upset over the Pacers on Monday night. This should have been a warning to the Cavaliers. Going into the 4th Quarter of Thursday’s game, the Cavs were up 75-74. Then, the boys looked gassed. The Cavaliers shot 31.6% in the 4th Quarter to only lose the lead and the game 103-95. There were even boos to be heard in the arena. Hopefully not an indication of things to come.
Now What?
With the In-Season Tournament no longer in the cards, the rest of the regular season is now the focus. Since the Cavs are not in the knockout rounds, they added two more games to their schedule (12/6 vs Magic & 12/8 at Heat). Going forward, every game matters. It is equally important to bring an effort against teams like the Pistons… At the moment, the Cavaliers cannot afford to drop games, especially since they are healthy. We are going to see what this team is made of in the coming weeks.
