Cleveland Cavaliers: Player of the Week for Oct. 25-31

The Cleveland Cavaliers road trip this past week, not including Cleveland’s win over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, resulted in two wins against the Denver Nuggets and LA Clippers, followed up by two losses versus the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns.

This should be considered a success, to go with the Charlotte game, too, but the team’s performances across the four games were referring to here were interesting. Their top two scorers for each game were not the same in any of the other games.

Each night saw different top performers but this could be a good sign of depth/balance. One player who was mostly consistent was Darius Garland, though, who I believe was the Player of the Week for that second week of the season.

Garland was the Player of the Week for this past week of games for the Cavs from Oct. 25-31.

This comes after missing two games with an ankle injury. It was not 100 percent certain as to whether he’d play against Denver but has come back and played every game since.

Ankle injuries are always concerning in this league, especially with a shifty guard like Garland who is agile and quick, and Collin Sexton seemingly rolled one in that Charlotte game, but hopefully can be fine/it not be too serious. He did return, for what it’s worth.

Anyway, circling back, Garland averaged 13.5 points and 7.3 assists on the week. His most notable performances were in L.A. with 16 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds against the Clippers and 18 points and 11 assists against the Lakers.

The playmaking this past week was what stood out the most for his week and is a good sign for things to come for him/the Cleveland Cavaliers. His floor generalship is invaluable for this big offense to work, regarding the starters, in particular.

This consistent playmaking should also benefit the team’s shooting in the long term which suffered last season.

Garland also showed a good ability to score and found his own opportunity in the offense, and that was good to see.

As far as others, Ricky Rubio is a notable performer for this aforementioned past week, too, as he put up 12 points and 4.5 assists per game. Similar to Garland, his playmaking ability will also be important for this team as the season goes on, as will be his leadership presence, to echo our own Zachary Shafron’s sentiment. Rubio’s most notable performance was 18 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists off the bench against the Lakers.

One last notable performer for the Cleveland Cavaliers was Evan Mobley, who had a tremendous start to the week averaging 15 points and 8 rebounds in the first 3 games. His outlier performance in the last game kept him out of the top spot for the week with 2 points and 4 rebounds. His top performance came against the Lakers with 23 points and 6 rebounds, however, and his defense has been terrific overall thus far.

The young big man has looked great and seems to be adapting quicker than anyone on the young Cavs core did their rookie year. He has made an impact in all facets and will surely be featured in more of these POTWs going forward.