Cavs: W at Clippers reiterated this about Collin Sexton

The Cleveland Cavaliers are 3-2, and have gotten three straight victories over to-be postseason teams in the Atlanta Hawks, Denver Nuggets and LA Clippers.

Now, in the past two outings, the Nuggets were still without Jamal Murray (torn ACL) and the Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard (partially torn ACL), along with Serge Ibaka (back), most notably. That was because of them continuing on in their recovery from injuries from last season.

Make no mistake, though, these have been three quality Ws for Cleveland, a club that’s been getting it done with interior finishing, ball movement, balance and their defense stymying opponents in these past three games.

The Cavaliers did so in that Denver game, and while some were open looks from the Nuggets and just misses, Cleveland did a number on Denver on that end, and Kevin Love’s 21 points in 22 minutes off the bench was crucial. He’s played well and appears to be bought-in in that realm, and he and Ricky Rubio, for instance, have had a quality two-man game off the bench.

In this past W at the Clippers, though, the Cavs were ice cold at times, but they again did play quality defense largely throughout, and made Paul George work for everything. He had just 12 points on only 6-of-20 from the field, and was not in a rhythm, really, as he went 0-for-8 from three-point land.

Granted, in this Wednesday contest, the Cavaliers did get one notable performance, in particular, on the offensive end, and they needed it. The club shot just 40.7 percent overall, and just 3-of-20 from three, which was less than ideal, painting it kindly. Cleveland hitting 23-of-27 free throws (85.2 percent) did help mitigate the inefficiency from the field, in fairness.

That said, as we noted, they did have one impressive outing offensively, from Collin Sexton, and that, mixed with enough ball movement combined with it, led to a W.

Sexton had 26 points on 12-of-20 shooting, to go with seven rebounds and three steals, and he had three dunks in this one, including a big-time jam in transition over Nicolas Batum. This was with the left, too! And this had to have given the Cavs a lift.

Sexton had other crucial buckets throughout the game, and helped the Cavs overcome what were seemingly at times lulls offensively, even while the Clippers had an especially rough go of it.

The production, and timely baskets from Sexton echoed to me that Sexton is the clear top scoring option for Cleveland, particularly in the sense if they need a bucket and guy that create for himself when it’s absolutely needed.

Sexton’s game at the Clips on Wednesday reiterated that he’s the Cavs’ top scoring option, and they can go to him when they really need a bucket.

It’s not a news flash to state that Sexton, who had 24.3 points per outing last season, his second consecutive leading Cleveland on that front, can score. That’s what Sexton, who is more so a 2 at this point, does primarily, although he did make noticeable strides last season as a playmaker, especially of the secondary variety in that realm.

Sexton did not have the best game on that front, and, even while he did have some passes that led to looks that just simply didn’t go, he objectively had a 1-to-5 assist-to-turnover ratio. He’s been demonstrating progress as a passer early this season, and dating back to last season, too, at any rate.

But as we alluded to, in this Wednesday W, when Cleveland was in a rut offensively, while I’m not saying I want to see it all the time, Sexton’s bucket-getting was pivotal, as KJG’s Josh Cornelissen expressed. He hasn’t started the season well from three, at 29.8 percent through five games, and in this game, he was 0-for-4.

I do believe that he, Lauri Markkanen, Darius Garland, as he gets more comfortable coming off an ankle sprain, and Kevin Love/perhaps Dylan Windler can help get the Cavs three-point game going more, for what it’s worth, soon. For Garland, it’s the volume game-to-game, and more generally, the Cavaliers have been often getting open looks, and I believe for those guys, it will turn around. Markkanen, especially, and Sexton/Love are too good of shooters.

To the last point, though, Wednesday’s game reiterated that even with the ball movement being the focal point, Sexton is undoubtedly Cleveland’s top scoring option, in the sense that when they need a bucket, he can get that for you.

He had the three dunks, one of which was even on an offensive rebound, and had a nice cut later on in the fourth leading to a heck of a no-look pass from Ricky Rubio. In key stretches, however, Sexton found ways to create still via pull-ups, and had a few timely drives/blow-bys that were huge for the Cavs.

So, to drive it home, even with him still having tunnel vision or rushing things at times, as score-first guards can be prone to doing, Wednesday’s game reiterated that Sexton is a player Cleveland can undoubtedly go to when they really need a bucket.

That still is invaluable, even with ball movement being the top priority for the Cavs, and them controlling the paint at both ends it appears.