The Cleveland Cavaliers have gotten their first win of the season. In a valiant effort and steady contribution from a number of players, the Wine and Gold were able to knock off the Atlanta Hawks 101-95 on Saturday. Over the past few seasons, Atlanta has been a team that the Cavs have been able to be competitive with and they were once again successful in limiting Trae Young.
A win like this one against a team who made a deep playoff run last season should be a huge confidence booster for this young team and hopefully, this confidence is something they can ride into their upcoming road trip.
Surprisingly, it was the defense that was the catalyst in last night’s win for Cleveland. The Cavaliers held the Hawks to just 38.4 percent shooting from the field and 29.4 percent shooting from three. More importantly, Trae Young was limited to 36.4 percent from the field and only attempted 6 threes.
For the team, after a slow offensive start, it was a last-minute second-quarter/third-quarter surge that would turn the tide of this game, giving them a comfortable lead. The fourth quarter had Cavs fans with sweaty palms but timely baskets would ultimately put any Hawks hopes to rest.
The team would also combine for just 10 turnovers, an issue that led to the loss against the Charlotte Hornets on Friday.
With that said, here, we will look at a stud and a dud from Saturday’s win against Atlanta, beginning with the stud(s).
Cavs stud(s): Ricky Rubio-Evan Mobley 2-man game
It’s hard to choose between one or the other for the game’s MVP seeing how the two had the biggest impacts on the win.
For Ricky Rubio, in Friday’s loss against Charlotte, he took the blame for it, as illustrated by Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, and Rubio bounced back big time against the Hawks. Rubio would fill the stat sheet putting up a Cavs-high 23 points to go along with 8 assists and 6 rebounds. In the absence of Darius Garland, Rubio’s ability to keep the team steady has been present. His leadership has been much-needed on a team still looking to form a strong identity.
Advanced stats showed just how much Rubio meant to the Cavs win as he was also a team-high plus-23. When the team called on Ricky, he answered scoring 6 of the team’s last 8 points during the final 3:14 of the game. Having Rubio be a backup has been a luxury for the team and it’s great to see him get the recognition he deserves.
Mobley was the defensive catalyst for the team in their win against Atlanta as he had 4 blocked shots to go along with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
His length gives him a “free-safety” ability to roam all around the court, running shooters off the three-point line with his closeout ability, altering shots with his length, and limiting his fouls while doing so.
Through three games, Evan Mobley is averaging 15.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.3 blocks, and 1.3 steals for the Wine and Gold, shooting 56.3 percent from the field. The production has been all we could ask for and then some for the rookie.
Cavs dud: Lauri Markkanen
It’s hard to look at the negatives in a win, especially one against a worthy opponent but Lauri Markkanen‘s first three games with the Cavs have been rough. In the win, Markkanen shot just 3-of-15 from the field and 1-of-6 from three.
Similar to how the first two games went, Atlanta made a point in attacking Markkanen whenever they could and oftentimes, Lauri’s lack of defensive aggression led to tons of offensive rebounds and points in the paint for the Hawks.
The expectations weren’t high defensively and it’s the lack of three-point success that should be more worrisome. In an article/report from before Cleveland’s first game, Fedor hit on how Markkanen can help the Cavs spacing/shooting, and projected him to start at the 3, even with defensive questions. But with the negative results so far, one could question how long of a leash Markkanen has.
It would be unfair to not give Markkanen more opportunities but the front office’s lack of aggression in acquiring a reliable wing player once again shines bright here. Starting a 7-footer at the small forward position isn’t ideal unless you are Kevin Durant and time will tell if this is Markannen’s primary position for the remainder of the season.
While it’s still very, very early on, Markkanen has not looked comfortable with Cleveland, so we’ll have to see.