1 stud and 1 dud from Cavs’ brutal loss to the Pistons on Thursday

Cavs stud: Lauri Markkanen

Lauri Markkanen had been out since Jan. 22 wherein a matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder he sprained his ankle. He showed no signs of the injury hindering him as he lead the team in scoring, netting 22 points (the second was Goodwin with 15) to go with 6 boards and a block. Markannen was 8-of-10 from the free throw line and was aggressive for the Cavaliers, taking 16 shots in total.

Markannen didn’t shoot the ball well, going 37.5 percent from the field and 28 percent from the three-point line. He also fumbled his way to four fouls, completely out of character, as he’s averaging 1.8 fouls per game on the year. In fairness, Markkanen did miss Cleveland’s past 11 games, so I have to cut him some slack for a bit, and it was still a solid game from him, given the circumstances.

As mentioned before, guards Rondo and Goodwin stepped up in Garland’s absence. However, I feel as though Rondo’s 6 turnovers were too many to grant him the honor, and Goodwin’s wide-open miss to tie the game late in the fourth sealed his fate for me as well.

Not many Cavaliers performed to their averages on Thursday night, but I would not look too deeply into this as you can chalk it up to Garland’s absence. Markannen has been a gem for the Cavs this season forming the tri-towers alongside rookie sensation Evan Mobley and All-Star Jarrett Allen.