Cavs: 3 players that must step up with Kevin Porter Jr. sidelined

Larry Nance Jr.

I’ll preface this by emphasizing that Nance has played really well for a good while now.

According to NBA.com, in his last 15 games, Jr. has averaged 12.9 points on 58.0 percent effective field goal shooting, to go with 8.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals per outing. On Wednesday, Nance had a really good contest in which he had 19 points on seven-of-13 shooting to go with 15 rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Even if Tristan Thompson and/or Drummond are able to go against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets on Saturday, the Cleveland Cavaliers still need Nance to keep contributing in a plethora of ways. Jr. continues to make a considerable impact as a secondary playmaker, and the Cavs will need efforts like his on Wednesday in that department with Exum and KPJ out.

Nance out top/near the elbows generally leads to quality possessions for the Wine and Gold, and I’d look for more of that in coming games. This was a nice example of that to Sexton here.

Defensively, Nance just needs to keep doing what he’s been doing as an active helper/rotator and the Cavaliers will need him to push potentially more sans KPJ after defensive rebounds.

Jr.’s consistently shown he’s more than capable of initiating on the break, and with Sexton and Osman in there with him at least for stretches, the Cavs need Nance to keep that going when it’s reasonable.

Lastly, let’s hope KPJ is absolutely 100 percent and he can pass his concussion tests in a timely manner, but clearly, the most important thing is making sure he’s fully recovered.