Cavs Lose Heartbreaker To The Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-114.

It was never going to be easy for the Cavs as they were up against the top-ranked defense in the NBA without their leading scorer, Donovan Mitchell.

It came down to the wire, but the Grizzlies walked away with a one-point, 115-114 victory in the end.

But, it wasn't a tight game the entire way. The Cavs jumped out to an early double-digit lead until they allowed Memphis to go on a 20-0 run for in the middle of the second quarter. Cleveland quickly found themselves down big heading into halftime,

The Cavs did come out strong in the third quarter and even outscored the Grizzlies 30-21 in that period. They came back and retook the lead in the fourth which was a back-and-forth game the rest of the way.

But now we have to talk about the last few possessions. With 27 seconds left in the game, the Cavs were up one point and getting ready to pass the ball in out of a timeout. Their play blew up and the team was called with a five-second penalty resulting in a turnover.

Then Ja Morant drove to the hoop and missed a layup. However, Steven Adams went unchecked under the basket and was able to tip the ball in and retake the lead. 

J.B. Bickerstaff decided not to call a timeout and let his team play. Darius Garland took the ball up the court and wasn't even able to get a shot off with his shot being blocked.

Not a great look all around. I get it, these are supposed to be the learning moments for this team. But what exactly did they learn here? 

It just seems like the execution all around could have been better from a coaching and player perspective in those final two minutes. 

A lot of attention will be given to the closing stage of the game but it wasn't the only area where the Cavs let this one get away from them. They allowed Memphis to score 13-second chance points and 13 points off turnovers as well. This is a perfect example of how Cleveland can't give great teams such as the Grizzlies extra opportunities or they'll pay for it. 

Now onto a positive.

Isaac Okoro played his best game of the season against the Grizzlies and arguably one of his best in a Cavs uniform. He finished the night with 17 points and was perfect from the field. This included shooting 3-for-3 behind three, 6-for-6 from the field, while also in two blocked shots. 

Okoro has looked like a new player in the New Year, but he just needs to stay consistent with it.

This was a rough loss for the Cavs but they need to put it behind them as quickly as possible. They have a difficult back-to-back coming up this weekend with games against the Warriors and Bucks.

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