Cavs: One stud and one dud from loss to Hornets on Friday
By Corey Casey
Cavs stud – Collin Sexton
The Cavs/Collin Sexton are coming off an offseason where there was all kinds of discussion about Sexton and his long term contract status. Sexton seemingly wants to be a Cav long term, and publicly, similarly to Sexton’s sentiment, the Cavs have said they’d like to have Sexton long term. Granted, even so, the Cavs and Sexton weren’t able to get a contract extension done, so the two sides are headed to restricted free agency next year it appears, even though one shouldn’t overreact to that.
In the mean time Sexton figures to have a huge chip on his shoulder. He was fairly efficient in the first game, but in this game without his backcourt teammate in Garland (ankle sprain), more of a burden was going to be placed on Sexton to produce with no Garland. And Sexton was able to deliver, while he did what he does best, and that is being a dynamic scorer.
On the night Sexton scored 33 points in 35 minutes, while he had 4 rebounds, 2 steals, and should’ve had far more than one assist it seemed, and shot 13-of-21 from the field (albeit 2-of-7 from three). Sexton was one of the primary reasons why the Cavaliers were able to hold a 5-point lead at halftime, scoring 13 points in the second quarter.
Sexton had it going all night scoring by getting to the rim, getting to the free throw line, hitting turnaround jumpers, mid-rangers and hit a couple shots from deep. The way the Cavaliers are building, Mobley and Garland look to be the two most important pieces going forward, but Sexton continues to show that he’s also a valuable piece and figures to have a chip on his shoulder all year.