Ricky Rubio, the veteran point guard for the Cavaliers, has a message for his teammates after starting 0-2:
“This league doesn’t feel sorry for you because you have (back-to-back games with D.G. (Darius Garland) out,” Rubio said after the 123-112 loss to Charlotte on Oct. 22 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. “It’s going to snowball if you don’t stop it.”
The Cavs hosted the Atlanta Hawks on Oct. 23 at the FieldHouse.
Rubio shouldered the blame for a rash of turnovers early in the fourth quarter that led to the Hornets going on a 19-2 run to turn a 90-89 lead after three quarters into a blowout. The Cavs turned the ball over 18 times. Rubio made six of them.
The message about the NBA not feeling sorry for the Cavs is timely, because on Oct. 25 the Cavs start a five-game trip with games against the Nuggets, Clippers, Lakers, Suns and Hornets.
“As a veteran, I have to lead the way in knowing if there is one or two turnovers, the next play, you can’t really rush it,” Rubio said. “It’s about taking care of the details and trusting the process. If we work today, the result isn’t going to show today. It’s going to show in a couple weeks.
“That being said, you have to trust what we’re doing and buy into what we do here. It’s a young team, but we have a lot of talent.”
Turnovers and allowing the opponent too many offensive rebounds was a problem in preseason that has carried over into the regular season, Rubio said.
The Hornets had 11 offensive rebounds. The Cavs grabbed 29 rebounds at the defensive end. Conversely, the Cavs had seven offensive rebounds and the Hornets had 34 defensive rebounds despite the Cavaliers’ forest of 7-foot players.
The Cavaliers’ rebound totals in Memphis were identical — seven offensive and 29 defensive rebounds. The Grizzlies had 13 offensive boards and 40 defensive rebounds.
Clearly, the Cavs have to slow things down passing until they become more familiar with how each other moves without the ball. Even more clearly, they have to become more aggressive on the boards. They have no chance for a successful season if they can’t use their size to their advantage.
The challenge for every NBA team is finding time to practice on the details Rubio mentioned. The Cavs won’t have back-to-back nights without games until Nov. 8 and 9.
![It is pretty cool when players on a team spend an entire week talking about their game plan for a playoff series and then watch them play exactly as they said they would. The Cavaliers have broken the will of the Orlando Magic. They won Game 1 of the best-of-seven series, 97-83, on April 20 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and then made the Magic disappear again, 96-86, April 22 in Game 2 at the FieldHouse. “It starts with our defense,” Coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after Game 2. “I thought we did a great job of forcing them to the shots […]](https://www.morningjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/TNH-L-Cavaliers2-0422-04-1.jpg?w=454 "It is pretty cool when players on a team spend an entire week talking about their game plan for a playoff series and then watch them play exactly as they said they would. The Cavaliers have broken the will of the Orlando Magic. They won Game 1 of the best-of-seven series, 97-83, on April 20 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and then made the Magic disappear again, 96-86, April 22 in Game 2 at the FieldHouse. “It starts with our defense,” Coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after Game 2. “I thought we did a great job of forcing them to the shots […]")
![By TOM WITHERS Donovan Mitchell scored 23 points, Jarrett Allen had 20 rebounds and the Cleveland Cavaliers outlasted the Orlando Magic 96-86 on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference series. Mitchell set the tone as the Cavs led from start to finish, just as they did in Game 1. It’s been an impressive opening to the playoffs for Cleveland, which spent the regular season waiting for a chance to redeem itself following last year’s first-round exit against the New York Knicks, who punished the Cavs in five games. Cleveland has been much tougher this […]](https://www.morningjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/TNH-L-BKN-Cavaliers-0422-18-1.jpg?w=223 "By TOM WITHERS Donovan Mitchell scored 23 points, Jarrett Allen had 20 rebounds and the Cleveland Cavaliers outlasted the Orlando Magic 96-86 on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference series. Mitchell set the tone as the Cavs led from start to finish, just as they did in Game 1. It’s been an impressive opening to the playoffs for Cleveland, which spent the regular season waiting for a chance to redeem itself following last year’s first-round exit against the New York Knicks, who punished the Cavs in five games. Cleveland has been much tougher this […]")
