Cavs: Revisiting Larry Nance Jr.’s best games of 2019-2020 thus far
By Zane Harris
#3: March 4 vs. Boston
The March 4 matchup against the Celtics was a game that was a pretty even one, as both teams were severely banged up. The Cavs were without Darius Garland, Andre Drummond, Tristan Thompson and Dante Exum, and Kevin Porter Jr. played less than 10 minutes due to suffering a concussion.
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On the Celtics side, they were without Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward, but with the Celtics being a playoff lock and being one of the deepest teams in the league, the game would still be a challenge for Cleveland. Fortunately, the Cavs did keep it close and the game only ended up being a six-point defeat.
Although the game ended in a 112-106 loss, it was still a spectacular game for Larry. He finished the game with 19 points, which was third on the team only behind Kevin Love who had 26 and Collin Sexton who scored a career-high 41 points.
Nance Jr. got his points in a very efficient way, too, as he shot seven-for-13 from the field and shot an impressive 40.0 percent from the three-point line, as indicated by Basketball Reference.
Nance Jr. also finished the game with four assists, which provided a nice lift with him starting in that one and adding some secondary playmaking, which he’s proven to be more than capable of doing for the Cavaliers, even while being mostly a 4/5. Defensively, he led the way for the Cavaliers totaling four steals on the game as well.
This led both teams and gave Cleveland extra possessions to help chip away at the Boston lead. Most impressively, and a stat from Nance Jr. that led both teams was his rebounding. He could not be kept off the boards for the entire game.
Nance Jr. pulled down 15 rebounds, five of which were offensive rebounds. Doing the dirty work in the trenches is an area that he can thrive, especially against undersized teams like the Celtics and that is exactly what he did in this matchup against Boston.
As far as Game #2, we’ll look back at Nance Jr.’s stellar outing against the Hawks on February 12.