Cavs: 3 players to watch in second 2019-20 meeting with Heat

Alfonzo McKinnie

Cavs wing/forward Alfonzo McKinnie is a player that could get some more meaningful run in coming games as a decent veteran bench piece that can take some pressure off of Cedi Osman and, in minutes on the floor with him, perhaps Porter. Porter did have a career-high 18 points against the Knicks, but he’s going to have his ups and downs.

Anyway, McKinnie has only played 68 total minutes so far in the 2019-20 season, according to Basketball Reference, which, as realistically an end-of-bench piece to this point, is understandable.

That being said, McKinnie is a player that has postseason experience last season with a much, much different then-Golden State Warriors team that made the NBA Finals, which is worth noting.

Factored into that sort of thing, McKinnie, though he’s not going to be a big-time bench bucket-getter or anything, is tough, and is a team-first player that gets his share of loose balls on both ends.

Along with that, as Fear The Sword’s Chris Manning alluded to, McKinnie had an encouraging performance against the Knicks on Monday, and showed he should warrant some minutes.

"“McKinnie is not a long-term starter or anything. But what he is is a capable veteran who can play defense, fill minutes and offer depth.”"

Manning essentially would go on to reference how McKinnie, who had 14 points in 30 minutes in the second Cavs’ game against the Knicks, also “made three three-pointers and pulled down six rebounds while playing engaged defense.”

McKinnie is a player that while not being a lockdown individual defender on the wing or sometimes against small-ball 4’s, is a high IQ defender.

Against the Heat, who have the fifth-most assists per game this season, a player such as the 27-year-old McKinnie can generally be relied on to be in the right spots on defense in a positional sense, and as a team defender, and he is going to rebound his position at 6-foot-7, which is no small thing for the Cavs.

Now if Kevin Love can go in this one against the Heat, which he believes is a certainty, based on him basically saying that to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, McKinnie probably won’t be playing 30 minutes against Miami.

However, as a player who can knock in the occasional triple off-the-catch off kickouts from the corner and as a solid, heady defender, he might be deployed in some meaningful minutes in this one against the Heat.

They are a club who move the ball so well and are difficult to penetrate on, so perhaps McKinnie, a low-maintenance player who has some size on the wing can be of use again in this game and seemingly coming ones, as Manning touched on.

We’ll see if the Cavs can get back on the right track and get to 5-9 against Miami and snap their four-game skid.

That won’t be easy, though, and neither will a road matchup against budding superstar playmaker Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on Friday. That will be another second 2019-20 meeting for Cleveland versus a tough former opponent.