Dribbles: Cavs Lite Gave Their All, But Can’t Save Streak

Random dribbles following the Cavaliers’ 111-101 road loss to the Celtics on Wednesday.

1. You can’t really blame the Cavs in this one. All you can do is chalk it up to circumstance.

2. Regardless of your feelings on the NBA’s health and safety protocols … or if this game should’ve been played … the games will go on. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said as much on ESPN. There will be no pausing of the season. And it doesn’t appear as if the league will suddenly stop testing (and stop sitting) asymptomatic players.

3. Given all that, the rules are the rules and the Cavs are expected to be missing the likes of starters Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro, and reserves Lamar Stevens, Dylan Windler and Ed Davis for at least another week.

4. That is unless, of course, one or more of those players returns two negative tests in a 24-hour span to exit protocols. But right now the Cavs’ biggest hope is that no one else goes down — for any reason.

5. Those who remained on Wednesday, it should be noted, made the best of it. Their best just wasn’t good enough.

6. As has been the theme all season, the Cavs played a determined brand of basketball, not allowing all the missing bodies to serve as an excuse. That’s another feather in the cap of J.B. Bickerstaff, who has undoubtedly done of the NBA’s best coaching jobs early.

7. And you could see that look in the eyes of Darius Garland, who tried to get his teammates involved, but took over himself when necessary. He finished with a game-high 28 points on 11-of-22 shooting, six assists and three steals. Garland went all-out for every second.

8. The rest of the Cavs did much of the same, with Kevin Love (18 points) and Cedi Osman (13) offering stability off the bench. But again, none of this comes as a surprise.

9. Bickerstaff on the effort: “I think that’s who we’ve been. Our level of competition hasn’t wavered, no matter who has been available. You can control how hard you scrap. I think we did that tonight.”

10. This game wasn’t really close for some time, but as has been the case with this season, you never really got the feeling the Cavs were totally out of it, either.

11. That said, Lauri Markkanen and Ricky Rubio really struggled — with each finishing 2-of-12 from the floor. And at times like these, the Cavs are gonna need both to be at their best. That’s not meant to rip either. Just the difficult truth of which they are both already aware.

12. Meanwhile, old-timer Joe Johnson signed a 10-day “hardship deal” with the Celtics, which was kind of cool. Johnson, 40, was a fantastic player at one time. Late in the game, he hit his first basket since March 2018.

13. By the way, Garland was just six-months old when Johnson was drafted (2001, No. 10 overall pick).

14. Boston also had some players in protocols, as does just about everyone. Difference on this night was the Celtics still had Jaylen Brown (34 points) and Jayson Tatum (18), their two brightest stars.

15. For the Cavs (19-13), there’s no reason to hang their heads. The six-game winning streak was snapped — but they are still showing the type of moxie that makes you believe they won’t be down for a long stretch.