No Kawhi Leonard and no Paul George for the Clippers on Sunday night against the Cavaliers, but it did not matter. Lou Williams scored 30 points, and Marcus Morris Sr. added 23 as the Clippers(20-8) defeated the Cavaliers 128-111 at Staples Center.
Collin Sexton led the way for Cleveland with 22 points.
With the loss, Cleveland(10-18) has now dropped seven straight and nine out of their last 10. Cleveland has been beaten by double digits in three out of the four games on this trip. The Cavalier finish off this five-game road trip on Monday night against the Warriors.
The defense was again an issue for Cleveland. The Cavaliers allowed over 120 points for the sixth time in the last seven games.
Cedi Osman, who scored 20 points off the bench, acknowledged that the team is not playing well on the defensive end.
“When we’re playing defense, offensively, we were great,” Osman said. “We were sharing the basketball. We were playing for each other, but right now, defensively, we are not playing good.”
In fairness to Cleveland, they have played some very good teams during this game road trip. Cleveland has lost to Clippers(2x), Bucks(2x), Denver, Portland, and Phoenix in the last seven.
“Without making excuses, we have played really good teams in this stretch,” Cavaliers head. coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after the loss to the Clippers. “Our concern has to be are we playing well, and if we’re playing well, we give ourselves an opportunity. Against these teams that are competing for a championship, you can’t afford to make those mistakes and give yourself an honest chance to win the game at the end, so our focus strictly needs to be on how are we playing.”
Cleveland surprised the league when they started the season 3-0, and they were not as good as that start indicated, but they are probably not as bad as what we have seen of late. Once Cleveland gets home, they can regroup and try to fix what’s wrong.
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