1 stud and 1 dud for the Cavs in their loss to the Rockets

Cavs stud: Evan Mobley

Cleveland’s sensational rookie big man Evan Mobley was turned to as one of the focal points of the offense last night, and no surprise, he rose to the occasion once again.

Mobley, who has been showing more aggressiveness around the basket of late, came out of the gate strong, as he scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the opening quarter. He seemed to be especially impactful very early on, and looked primed for a big night.

After scoring just six points in the second and third quarters, though, Mobley came out in the fourth quarter and did his best to bring the Cavaliers back, which was the key positive takeaway from this one. The rookie scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the final frame, and even with Cleveland ultimately not pulling out the win, this was an impressive performance nonetheless from Mobley, who ended up with his season-high so far with 29 points.

Night after night, he continues to show more variety in his game. He’s backing guys down, hitting turnaround fadeaway jump shots, catching alley-oops and blocking shots left and right.

It is pretty remarkable that a guy, who legally can’t consume alcohol yet, is flashing this much potential so early in his NBA career. Mobley seems to be the frontrunner for the league’s Rookie of the Year, too, with both ends factored in.

However, not everyone had their best performance of the season on Wednesday night, clearly.