Handing out Cleveland Cavaliers midseason awards

Cleveland Cavaliers fans have a lot to be happy about just past the midway point in the season. Currently, the team stands at 27-19 and are only a couple of games out of first place in the NBA Eastern Conference standings.

Who would have expected such a strong first half of the season? The team won 22 games all of last year. Most fans of the Wine and Gold probably would have been happy for a slight improvement over last year. Having surpassed all expectations so early in the season has made this a very memorable year already.

Contending on a nightly basis and marching toward a playoff berth will continue for these young, but confident kids in Cleveland and keep all of us on the edge of our seats waiting for that next slam dunk!

With that said, let’s hand out some midseason awards for the good guys. Everyone on this current group of Cavaliers is contributing in some way to the success of the team. Here are a few specific honors.

Midseason MVP: Darius Garland

Darius Garland, who was recently named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, has been a treat to watch this season. He’s been everything that this team needed. Every game he’s dishing out assists at a high rate, taking shots from all over the floor with confidence and making every opportunity count when he’s on the floor.

Prior to this season and before other guard Collin Sexton was injured and out for the year, we weren’t exactly sure what to expect from Garland. The biggest concern might have been his decision-making while quarterbacking the team on offense. That’s why what we are seeing from him now is really impressive.

He seems to be understanding his role and how he can affect the game every time he steps out on the court. That confidence is growing and for a young and talented kid like Garland, that’s something really special and it has the team at an all-time high in terms of enthusiasm and playing together as a team.

Everyone else on the team is following suit and trying to improve as well and when that chemistry is building like that, it’s hard to keep a good thing down for too long.

Best Bench Player: Kevin Love

Kevin Love has been a changed man this season and it’s been fun to watch him enjoy the game of basketball again. He’s been the ultimate cheerleader to these younger players on the team. He’s embraced his new role of coming off the bench and has been producing night in and night out.

He’s often been the first player off the bench and has been averaging around 21 minutes a night. He’s averaging 14 points and seven rebounds a game. That’s up from last season’s 12-point average when he played around 25 minutes a game. He’s still putting up over six three-pointers a night and is averaging 40 percent on those.

His contributions go beyond the box score, too, as he always seems far more engaged in the game even when he’s on the bench.

With Love’s previous run with the last group of Cavaliers that included LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, it’ll be a big benefit to this new group of Cavs as they move forward and try to get to the playoffs.

Best Newcomer and Defender: Evan Mobley

The USC product is having a season to remember. Evan Mobley’s near the top in multiple categories from scoring, to blocks to rebounds among rookies. He certainly looks to become the NBA Rookie of the Year. He looks like a savvy veteran when he’s out there on the court as well.

His ability to alter opponents’ shots when he’s playing defense while showing his range of offensive talents too is so special and he’s only 20 years old.

He’s averaging 15 points and eight rebounds a game. He’s in the top three in most rookie categories, and is third in scoring. He’s second in rebounding and points scored with 570. He’s first in blocks per game with 1.7 and first in total blocks with 65, and he’s also first in shots made per game at 6.2.

Plus, his overall plus-minus through all games is plus-130, which is crushing all rookies. The second-nearest rookie comes in at plus-98.

Mr. Double-Double Award: Jarrett Allen

Jarrett Allen already has 24 double-doubles on the season. He had 25 of them all of last season, so it’s an impressive accomplishment.

He’s been a huge reason why the team has been so consistent in their play, and nearly every night, Allen’s energy and drive down around the rim is outstanding. He seemed to realize early on this season that his efforts were needed more, and he has delivered.

In a seven-game stretch in November, Allen had seven double-doubles in a row. This season, he’s averaging 16 points and 11 rebounds, and the Cavs are going to need Allen to keep up the strong efforts if they want to reach the postseason.

Best Dunk: Isaac Okoro dunks over three Houston Rockets

Do you remember the Cavs’ 124-89 route over the Houston Rockets in December? Houston was shorthanded, but it doesn’t take away from Isaac Okoro’s thunderous jam from that one.

Midway through the third quarter, Okoro took off on a drive and slammed home a two-handed dunk between three Rockets players converging all at once in a triangle to stop Okoro. He would have none of that as all three Rockets were left stunned and silent in the wake of the monstrous throwdown.

Best Individual Game Performance: Garland’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, scoring 27 points and dishing out18 assists

The team was down18 points in the second half in a recent game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But the team kept getting closer and Darius Garland was helping the cause in a big way.

He dished out a career-best 18 assists and scored 27 points, and the Cavaliers were able to make the comeback and won 107-102 and ran away with the win on the last game of a six-game road trip.

Best Cavs team win: 102-101 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Nov. 5

It was an early-season game on the docket that was a key indicator that this season was going to be different and more successful than previous years. The Cavs went down early on the road against a decent Toronto Raptors team, and they hadn’t beaten the Raptors in Toronto in over a decade.

After being down by 10 at the halfway point, the Wine and Gold kept chipping away and eventually took the lead on two free throws by Darius Garland to escape Toronto with the victory.

Here’s to hoping the Cavaliers keep up their strong play from the season’s first half, and get back in the postseason.