Cavs ignored Mobley when it mattered most
The Cavs needed Mobley to be more involved.
The Cleveland Cavaliers had a historic regular season. Then, everything they built crumbled in five games against the Indiana Pacers. We’ll be unpacking what went wrong for the foreseeable future.
One of the most glaring shortcomings of round two was the Cavaliers' diminishing offense. They had been a world-beater throughout the regular season and the first round of the playoffs. But against the Pacers, they didn’t look so potent.
Cleveland’s three-point shooting disappeared at the worst time. They finished the series shooting below 30% from deep. This poor shooting trickled down to every aspect of their game, from a lack of ball movement to exhausted legs on defense.
I recently wrote about how the Pacers’ full-court press caused the Cavs to abandon their identity in the playoffs. Everything I wrote in that story is a valid reason why the Cavs’ offense sputtered out in the closing games of the series. But the following is also true:
It’s a make-or-miss league, and the Cavs went cold at the wrong time.
Cleveland isn’t the only team to suffer this fate. We just saw the Boston Celtics go out in six games due to an inopportune shooting drought. If the defending champs are prone to going cold, so are the Cavs.
This isn’t an excuse. Every team in the NBA should be bracing itself to pull the parachute when their three-point shots aren’t falling. It was a common criticism that Boston didn’t have a solid “Plan B” for when their style failed them. So the Cavaliers deserve the same blame.
For instance, why wasn’t Evan Mobley more involved?
Cavs ignored Mobley when they needed him most
Mobley was perhaps the only player who could have pulled Cleveland’s offense out of the mud. He’s shown enough promise as an offensive hub to tack on some of the load and preserve his star backcourt.
He was also the only member of the team who was scoring efficiently. Mobley averaged 18 points on 57.8% shooting from the floor. That outpaced everyone on both teams as the highest combination of scoring and efficiency in the series. The fact that he never attempted more than 13 shots in a game is criminal.
Mobley was crushing Indiana in the elimination game. He shot 8-12 from the field, with five of his attempts coming in the first quarter. These plays where Mobley is handling the ball and creating his own shot were non-existent in the fourth quarter — despite the Cavs needing this type of creation more than ever before.
Hindsight is 20/20. But there’s no reason the Cavs shouldn’t have had the foresight to see this coming. They’ve been anticipating this moment since they drafted Mobley. We’ve always understood the path to a championship will be carved by him. They spent the regular season apologizing whenever Mobley was iced out of the offense. So why didn’t they correct this before it was too late?
Chalk it up to inexperience. Blame the coaching staff or his teammates. You can even blame it on Mobley himself for not being aggressive enough to demand the ball. Wherever you point the finger, you’re probably right.
Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland both have to be better in this regard. We can all appreciate a heroic effort to carry the team with their scoring but there’s a delicate balance that must be met to win a championship. Sometimes it’s not your time to shine. The Cavs should have gone down with Mobley steering the ship.
Cleveland’s offense will never be immune to shooting spells. People had faith in their system because it felt like they had a built-in contingency for when those shots didn’t fall. Choosing to instead ram their heads repeatedly into the same brick wall — rather than putting the ball in Mobley’s hands and letting him decide the series — was the most frustrating outcome.