The Cleveland Cavaliers had a tough go this week facing off against some of the league’s best teams, finishing the week 1-3.
All four games were at home, with them winning the first matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves, in what was the second leg of a home-and-home back-to-back, but the Wine and Gold lost the next three against the LA Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks twice. The Bucks games were two back-to-back outings on Friday and Saturday, for what it’s worth, also.
This was a good test for the Cavs, who had a better than expected start and it was an opportunity to see how far their young core has come when faced against the league’s best players.
So who was the standout for the Wine and Gold, then?
The player who stayed true to himself the most was Collin Sexton, who was the Cavs Player of the Week for Feb.1-7.
Collin Sexton averaged 22.3 points and 3.8 assists per game in those four outings, and he hit 42.9 percent of his three-point attempts. The most notable performance came against the Clippers, where he put up 27 points and 5 assists against a real contender.
This came against former Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue, who was there for the team’s first championship, but also when the team drafted Sexton. That was initially, though, before he was fired shortly into that 2018-19 season.
Lue was very complimentary of Sexton before that game versus the Clips, too, and his comments were telling about how Sexton seems to be a budding star for Cleveland, and that he wasn’t surprised about how Sexton has been ascending. Here was more regarding that, via Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.
"“Not at all because he’s a hard worker,” Lue said. “From summer league of his first year to when we got to preseason to the six games that I coached, his shot got better and better. Now he’s really shooting the basketball well from midrange and from 3, so he’s really improved that. Scoring the basketball was his thing when he came out of college and he’s doing it at a high level right now.”"
Collin performed well this week despite facing stiffer competition, and it was nice to see him do well against his former head coaches in Lue and also Larry Drew, who are both with the Clippers; Drew is an assistant coach for Lue on that LA staff. It helps put into perspective just how far he’s come along since they were all together in Cleveland.
It also highlights how bright Collin’s future is if this type of development continues for him.
One player who was a notable performer that did not get the nod was Andre Drummond, who had a big game against the Bucks, finishing with 28 points and 11 rebounds.
Even while being a key subject of trade rumors, thanks in large part because of an expiring contract, Drummond has been an impact player throughout the season for the Cavaliers. And he still seems to have full buy-in, which has been nice to see.
Keep an eye out this week to see if this continues from Sexton or maybe another young player will step up for the team because the Cavs schedule isn’t getting any easier, and Darius Garland, who played well this past week, could seemingly be a key candidate.
The Cavs are hitting the road this week ahead as they have the majority of their upcoming West road trip at the Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers and Clippers once again.