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Wrap-Up -- After posting arguably their best performance of the season the previous night, the shorthanded Cavaliers came back down to earth on Wednesday – falling behind early and never finding their rhythm the rest of the way.
Turnovers, porous defense and poor three-point shooting bit the Wine & Gold early and often, with Washington’s starters taking the final quarter off as the Cavaliers remained winless on the road – falling, 119-95, at Capital One Arena.
Still without several key pieces – including Kevin Love, Sam Dekker, George Hill and Kyle Korver – the Cavaliers didn’t have nearly the same juice they did in Tuesday’s one-sided win over the Hornets. The Wizards, who got off to an equally poor start to the season, took full advantage of the flat Cavs en route to their third straight victory.
If there was a silver lining to the loss, it was the play of rookie Collin Sexton – who faced off against Kemba Walker the previous evening and drew John Wall on Wednesday night.
The 8th overall pick in this past June’s Draft didn’t shrink from the challenge – leading both teams with 24 points, going 9-of-16 from the floor, including 2-of-3 from beyond the arc and 4-of-4 from the stripe, adding three board and a pair of assists.
Wall only logged 21 minutes in the blowout, but didn’t make much of a dent in that time – finishing with eight points on 3-for-10 shooting but still leading both squads with nine assists.
The Cavaliers’ next-highest scorer was David Nwaba, who notched his second straight double-digit scoring effort with 11 points on 5-for-8 scoring, adding seven boards, a pair of steals and a block.
Larry Nance Jr. had a solid floor game on Wednesday – chipping in with 10 points, six boards and a team-high five assists to go with game-highs in steals (4) and blocked shots (2).
Five Cavaliers score in double figures despite loss in D.C.
Rodney Hood was the only other Cavalier starter in double-figures, tallying 10 points on 2-for-5 shooting from the floor, 6-of-6 from the stripe.
The newest Cavalier, Andrew Harrison, had a solid outing off the bench – finishing with 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting to go with four boards, two assists and a pair of steals in just under 19 minutes of work.
Tristan Thompson’s run of double-doubles ended at four games, with the eighth-year big man finishing with nine points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Jordan Clarkson, the 4th-leading bench scorer in the NBA this season, failed to reach double-digits for the first time this season, netting just nine points on 4-for-13 shooting while accounting for six of Cleveland’s 24 turnovers.
Bradley Beal led four Wizards starters in double-figures – notching his 11th 20-point game of the season with exactly 20 points on 7-for-16 shooting, adding three boards, three assists and three steals in the win.
Turning Point -- This one got away from the Wine & Gold early. Looking like a team playing the second night of a back-to-back, the Cavaliers tied the game at 2-apiece on Rodney Hood’s jumper and never got close again.
Less than four minutes into the affair, Bradley Beal’s three-pointer put the Wizards up double-figures and things continued to spiral downward from there – despite Cleveland shooting just over 72 percent from the floor in the period.
By the time the smoke cleared, the Cavs were down a dozen after the first 12 minutes and never found their footing from there – trailing by as many as 27 before intermission.
Cleveland would cut Washington’s lead to 13 midway through the third, but the Wizards answered right back to put the affair on ice early.
By the Numbers – 18.2, .484, .700, 1.000 … Collin Sexton’s scoring average, field goal, three-point and free throw percentages since being inserted into the starting lineup four games ago.
Quotable – Larry Nance Jr., on what it takes to win on a back-to-back …
”It takes a lot of toughness, both mentally and physically. Obviously, this team had a lot more rest than we did coming into this game. But there is really no excuse for the way we started this game. On a second night of a back-to-back, you got to know they are going to throw their punches but you just have to weather the storm and ride the game out, and we certainly didn’t weather the storm.”
Up Next -- After falling on Wednesday night in D.C., the Cavaliers come home for a nice four-day break – and they’re gonna need it. On Monday evening, the Wine & Gold travel to Detroit for their second matchup with the Pistons. That’ll serve as a warmup for the Thanksgiving Eve return of LeBron James and his Lakers on Wednesday before Cleveland travels to Philly for their first look at Jimmy Butler and the re-tooled Sixers. It doesn’t get easier when they return home – with a date against James Harden and the Rockets the following night at The Q.