{"id":776829,"date":"2026-05-06T08:15:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T08:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/776829\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T08:15:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T08:15:21","slug":"player-grades-cavs-at-bucks-harden-and-mobley-save-cavaliers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/776829\/","title":{"rendered":"Player Grades: Cavs at Bucks – Harden and Mobley save Cavaliers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> erased an 18-point deficit to tie the Detroit Pistons<\/a> midway through the fourth, but an inability to get stops and scores when they needed them wound up in Detroit escaping with a 111-101 Game 1 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player. A \u201cB\u201d grade represents that player performing to our expectations for them.<\/p>\n

22 points, 7 assists, 8 rebounds<\/p>\n

Harden was brought in to help with games like this. They needed someone who could provide consistent ball-handling, playmaking, and relieve some of the pressure off Donovan Mitchell. Throughout the regular season and parts of the first-round series against the Toronto Raptors<\/a>, he did that. However, there\u2019s also been too many times he seems a step slow and isn\u2019t able to take care of the ball. We saw that latter version far too much in Game 1.<\/p>\n

Turnovers are painful in any context, but they hurt so much more against a team that struggles with its half-court offense. The amount of giveaways allowed Detroit to get out in transition and pick up easy baskets.<\/p>\n

To be clear, turnovers were a team-wide issue. Harden isn\u2019t the only one to blame. At the same time, there\u2019s no excuse for your starting point guard to have seven giveaways.<\/p>\n

Harden turned things around in the fourth quarter. Seven-straight points allowed the Cavs to tie the game. However, if he takes care of the ball like he should\u2019ve they don\u2019t find themselves in the hole they were in.<\/p>\n

23 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists<\/p>\n

Mitchell hasn\u2019t been himself since Game 2 of the first round. He\u2019s registered fewer than 25 points in his last six games and hasn\u2019t been forceful in getting to the basket. This game was no different, as he took just one shot in the restricted area and had only two free-throw attempts.<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t much else to Mitchell\u2019s game if he isn\u2019t a premier scoring threat. Additionally, Cleveland\u2019s margin for error is so thin if he\u2019s not scoring at an elite level. This team was built around him taking games like this over.<\/p>\n

Twenty-three points on 9-19 shooting just isn\u2019t going to cut it in a road playoff game.<\/p>\n

14 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks<\/p>\n

The Cavs needed a big game from one of the members of the core four to steal this one. There were times in the first half where it felt like it was going to come from Mobley, but that didn\u2019t pan out.<\/p>\n

Cleveland needed Mobley to step up with Allen in foul trouble, and he didn\u2019t. Detroit\u2019s offensive rebounding helped win them this game. And even though it\u2019s unfair to pin that all on one person, Mobley could\u2019ve done a better job of keeping Detroit\u2019s bigs, particularly Jalen Duren, off the glass.<\/p>\n

There were some positive signs from Mobley. I thought the passing was quite good. But this is a game they needed their big man to set the tone in the paint, and he couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Anything bought from the links helps support Fear the Sword. You can buy the Let \u2018Em Know shirt HERE<\/a>. You can also shop all of Homage\u2019s Cavs gear HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists<\/p>\n

Strus\u2019s 10-point third quarter got the Cavs back into a game. His shooting and grit helped turn the momentum and were much needed on a night that Cleveland struggled to get any offensive consistency.<\/p>\n

Sometimes Strus\u2019s impact isn\u2019t felt on the box score. It was tonight with his efficient 19 points on 13 shots.<\/p>\n

3 points, 3 rebounds, 0 assists<\/p>\n

Ellis got his first real minutes of the postseason since he was benched after Game 4 against the Raptors, after Sam Merrill left the game in the first half with a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

He performed adequately in his role. Ellis picked up Cade Cunningham full court and showed his active hands, registering two steals. That\u2019s exactly what you want to see from Ellis if he\u2019s forced into minutes.<\/p>\n

2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist<\/p>\n

Allen picked up three fouls in the first quarter, which limited his minutes the rest of the game. Head coach Kenny Atkinson should\u2019ve given him more than just 16 minutes after the first quarter, but Allen also can\u2019t put himself in that position in the first place.<\/p>\n

The Cavs needed Allen\u2019s rebounding and the rim pressure he provides. Neither was possible due to foul trouble.<\/p>\n

9 points, 3 assists, 1 rebound<\/p>\n

Schroder provided some scoring punch and energy off the bench. That was needed. What wasn\u2019t was the four turnovers he also committed.<\/p>\n

Giveaways were what cost them this game. Schroder was the team\u2019s second biggest offender. That\u2019s going to knock his grade significantly.<\/p>\n

5 points, 1 assist, 3 rebounds<\/p>\n

The Cavs needed Wade\u2019s defense on Cade Cunningham. Conversely, they also struggled offensively whenever he was on the floor due to Detroit cheating off him and his inability to make them pay with either his outside shot or attacking off-the-dribble.<\/p>\n

4 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure why Bryant got meaningful minutes in the second half of this game. He hasn\u2019t made a positive impact in the previous postseason games he\u2019s played in, and didn\u2019t do so again tonight. Once again, Bryant was a step slow defensively, wasn\u2019t able to clean the glass, and didn\u2019t provide anything on offense.<\/p>\n

I get that they needed some additional minutes at center with Allen in foul trouble. But there wasn\u2019t room in this game to give him 10 minutes of run.<\/p>\n

0 points, 0 rebounds, 1 assist<\/p>\n

Merrill left the game in the first half with a hamstring injury. He was limited to under seven minutes in Game 1.<\/p>\n

0 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist<\/p>\n

Tyson didn\u2019t make an impact as a scorer, but he did a good job of staying with Detroit\u2019s wings \u2014 including Cunningham \u2014 defensively. That, combined with being a reliable rebounder, made him a useful player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Cavaliers erased an 18-point deficit to tie the Detroit Pistons midway through the fourth, but an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":776830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[241979,310707,59345,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-776829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-cavs-player-grades","tag-cavs-playoffs","tag-cavs-analysis","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}