The Cleveland Cavaliers got a lift this past weekend when they acquired Caris LeVert in a trade with the Indiana Pacers, as LeVert should lighten Darius Garland’s workload to some degree, which will help the team overall.
As far as how the Cavaliers have done since dealing for LeVert, they came back from an early deficit against LeVert’s former team in Indiana at home this past Sunday, and Cleveland responded with a nice week since.
The Cavs withstood a few runs by the San Antonio Spurs, and came up with big ones themselves a few times, particularly with one in the early third quarter, and won 105-92.
Following that game, the Cavaliers once again came back from a significant deficit versus Indiana, with them then a new-look squad after their trade with the Sacramento Kings earlier this week. Indiana came out on fire, and even had a 47-point first quarter, but the Cavs settled down defensively from there, and chipped away at the other end.
Rajon Rondo was big off the bench, finishing with 17 points and hit three three-point shots, to go with six assists and three steals, and LeVert himself came up clutch in the fourth quarter. In a start where he filled in at the starting 1 for stretches for Darius Garland, who missed the game due to lower back soreness, LeVert had 22 points and five assists, to go with three steals.
Now after that contest, the Cavs unfortunately had their inconsistencies even with Garland back in action, and lost to the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday. The Cavs found ways to keep themselves in the game for roughly three quarters, and did hang around, it just wasn’t nearly enough, even with the recently-acquired James Harden out because of a hamstring injury.
Joel Embiid got the better of Jarrett Allen, and made some big-time shots in the mid-post with excellent footwork, leading to fadeaways, and he got to work on drives as well. The MVP candidate had a 40-point triple double with 14 rebounds and 10 assists and tacked on three steals, en route to him being a plus-24. Allen unfortunately had a rough go of it and was a game-low minus-27, and Embiid in one sequence dunked on him.
Regardless, this past one was another solid week for the Wine and Gold. So who was the standout in these three outings then for them?
The Cavs Player of the Week for Feb. 7-13 was Darius Garland, who had a number of impressive stretches in his two games in there.
For context, as we touched on, Garland wasn’t in at the Pacers, and it’s evident that lower back soreness for him has been a persistent issue it seems. The All-Star break will only help with that, though.
His play in the two games he was in action, he was making things happen for the Wine and Gold, however, and although he did have six turnovers in both games, with six assists versus San Antonio and only one assist at Philly, it’s not as if other guys didn’t get great looks for him a bunch. There were plenty of instances where that occurred against the Sixers, and with him not playing in Cleveland’s previous week’s slate, I’m going to cut Garland some slack honestly.
The shot creation from Garland, on the plus side, was spectacular for extended stretches, too. He was 12-of-15 from the floor against San Antonio, leading to 27 points in 30 minutes, and canned all three of his three-point attempts.
At Philly, he did still have 27 points again on 11-of-23 shooting, and hit 3-of-6 attempts from deep, and while there some turnovers, Garland did make some incredible shots throughout that game, even at times against Matisse Thybulle. Garland’s production was on 27 shots, sure; still, Cleveland needed the shot creation for stretches, and his play kept them within striking distance for much of the contest.
So, from my perspective, I have to go with Garland as Cleveland’s Player of the Week here.
I had to give Allen some props still, even with that rough contest against Embiid, who in fairness, is arguably the league’s top 5, and could be the MVP this season. That game was hardly indicative of how Allen’s been for most of this season, and how he’s been in recent weeks.
In his other two games, Allen was terrific, and was a difference-maker for crucial stretches for Cleveland as an interior presence offensively, leading to him putting up 15 points and 14 rebounds against the Spurs, and 22 points and 14 rebounds at Indiana. He had four and then six offensive boards in those outings as well, which shouldn’t be discounted.
As far as other notable performers for this week’s slate, although he’s largely hit some of a rookie wall offensively, clearly, in the past two weeks, Evan Mobley’s defense was impactful for Cleveland, and Isaac Okoro did make a difference on that end. That’s at least in two of the contests, and Dean Wade I thought did some quality work.
And lastly, Cedi Osman made some quality plays for the Cavs bench, and had 11.3 points per in his three games, and knocked in 2-of-3 from deep versus San Antonio and did at least hit two threes at Philly that helped Cleveland get back in it, somewhat. He was 2-of-6 from there in the game, but in recent weeks, Osman has been getting in rhythm again it seems, which has been meaningful for the team.
Hopefully the Wine and Gold get a W at the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday before Cleveland hosts the All-Star festivities next weekend. Garland’s play in his two games this week, to reiterate, was so impressive, looking back, anyhow.