CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 Guess the Cavs didn\u2019t get their mojo back. <\/p>\n
About 24 hours after a feel-good come-from-behind win, the undermanned Cavs couldn\u2019t repeat it Saturday night, losing to the equally depleted Golden State Warriors, 99-94, inside Rocket Arena. It\u2019s Cleveland\u2019s fifth loss in the last seven games. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s deflating when you\u2019re missing shots. I don\u2019t know who would be joyful in that situation,\u201d Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. \u201cIt\u2019s just tough. I think we kept it together on the bench and encouraging and keep competing. I thought we were trying, were fighting. It\u2019s like we could not get over the hump. <\/p>\n
\u201cGive the Warriors a ton of credit. They came in there with a fresh, young group that had a lot of energy. They really got after it. We were definitely fatigued. It just is what it is. Now, in the NBA you got to overcome that, right? You got to find another way, and we didn\u2019t tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing their fifth game in seven nights, after expending so much energy rallying one night earlier against San Antonio, the Cavs got off to a horrendous start. <\/p>\n
Both teams did. <\/p>\n
That hideous first half mercifully came to a close with the frigid Cavs trailing 45-36 \u2014 a more respectable deficit thanks to Donovan Mitchell\u2019s buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the second quarter. <\/p>\n
In the first 24 minutes, Cleveland shot just 14 of 52 (26.9%) from the field and 3 of 21 (14.3%) from 3-point range. <\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t get much better in the second half. <\/p>\n
After the Warriors built a game-high 14-point lead at the 4:04 mark of the third quarter, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson angrily called timeout. As the team slowly walked back to the bench, they were greeted with boisterous boos \u2014 the second time in the last three games they have been heckled at home. <\/p>\n
Despite clearly not being at their best, the Cavs kept battling. They pulled within six at the 10:21 mark. About two minutes later, it was a one-possession game, temporarily turning those jeers into roars. <\/p>\n
But Warriors two-way guard Pat Spencer went on a personal 8-0 run to increase the Golden State lead back to 11 points midway through the fourth quarter. Following his third bucket in that gutsy stretch, the animated Spencer stood near center court, pounded his chest multiple times and yelled toward the crowd, as the Cavs signaled for another timeout to regroup. <\/p>\n
They did, trimming the Golden State advantage to just six with 3:11 left. It was a three-point game with under two minutes remaining. <\/p>\n
The Cavs had a few more chances to pull closer in the final seconds.<\/p>\n
Point guard Darius Garland split a pair of free throws with 20.9 left, making the margin two. Then Golden State reserve Gui Santos made one of two from the stripe, giving Cleveland the shot it wanted. <\/p>\n
Following a timeout in which Atkinson drew up a play for Mitchell, the inbounds pass found the Cavaliers\u2019 streaking star in front of the team\u2019s bench. <\/p>\n
He gathered and hoisted a high-arching triple that bounced off the rim. <\/p>\n
No comeback this time. <\/p>\n
So much for that joy they supposedly found the last few days. Mitchell was left dejectedly walking off the court. <\/p>\n
Again. <\/p>\n
His game-high 29 points weren\u2019t enough. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re gonna figure it out one day,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cCan\u2019t keep getting in this position. Shouldn\u2019t come down to it. All due respect and credit to them, but the consistent thing is we get down and then we start playing. There\u2019s no switch to flip. Until there\u2019s a change in that, we\u2019re going to keep being in these positions where sometimes we do, sometimes we don\u2019t, and we have to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evan Mobley added 18 points and 10 rebounds. Garland chipped in with 17 despite shooting just 6 of 15 from the field and 1 of 6 from beyond the arc. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust gotta bring some spirit, some energy to the games for 48 minutes,\u201d Garland explained. \u201cIt\u2019s fixable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The plucky Warriors were led by Spencer who finished with 19 points. It\u2019s his third consecutive game with 15 or more points. He also hit a career-high three triples. <\/p>\n
Santos tallied 14 points off the bench. Buddy Hield had 13. <\/p>\n
For the game, Cleveland shot 34.6%, including 23.8% from deep. It had just 15 assists on 37 makes. <\/p>\n
\u201cUntil we decide on a consistent basis to be that group, we\u2019re going to run into inconsistency,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cWe do it in spurts, and that\u2019s what\u2019s rough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given the deep-rooted ties between these two organizations \u2014 no longer just because of their Finals history \u2014 Cavs-Warriors is basically the Spider-Man meme. <\/p>\n
Atkinson, a Steve Kerr protege. Elements of Cleveland\u2019s system taken from those days in Golden State. And, on Saturday night, two teams nowhere close to full strength.<\/p>\n
The Cavs were without six regulars \u2014 Lonzo Ball (injury management), Jarrett Allen (strained finger), Larry Nance Jr. (calf strain), Sam Merrill (right hand sprain), Max Strus (foot surgery) and Tyrese Proctor (personal reasons). <\/p>\n
Golden State didn\u2019t have Stephen Curry (quad contusion), Jimmy Butler (injury management), Draymond Green (foot sprain), Seth Curry (toe soreness) or De\u2019Anthony Melton (injury management). <\/p>\n
It was ugly. It was low scoring. It felt like a game from a different era. <\/p>\n
The teacher got the best of the student. <\/p>\n
The good vibes lasted one night. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a reset right now to rest our bodies and get our principles,\u201d Atkinson admitted. \u201cYou always take lessons from struggles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Up next<\/p>\n
The Cavs will have nearly a week off before returning to game action, traveling to Washington, D.C., for a matchup with the Wizards on Friday night. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 Guess the Cavs didn\u2019t get their mojo back. About 24 hours after a feel-good come-from-behind…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-335023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}