The Cavs standout for first batch of post-All-Star games

The Cleveland Cavaliers and the city of Cleveland turned out to be great hosts for All-Star Weekend the one before last, and the NBA honoring the 75th Anniversary Team was truly special. The last time Cleveland hosted the All-Star festivities that played out for the NBA’s 50th Anniversary Team as well, so this last follow-up was awesome, too.

It was nice to see Darius Garland rep the hometown Cavs during the All-Star Game and in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, along with that. Jarrett Allen being James Harden’s injury replacement in the All-Star Game, who was well-deserving of a spot either way, added more to the weekend, additionally.

Looking past that, the Cavaliers do have more work to do to ensure they’re in the postseason. It’s not a certainty that the Cavs will get there at this juncture, either, with the Eastern Conference so tightly-contested.

As far as how Cleveland has done since the All-Star break, the Wine and Gold split their first two games, and then lost a close one to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Losing to the Detroit Pistons hurt, and the Cavs had their struggles in a win over the Washington Wizards.

It was tough for the team without Darius Garland (lower back soreness) and Caris LeVert (foot sprain) in these past three games. He could be back this weekend, seemingly, and hopefully Garland is back soon.

There were some solid performances for Cavaliers in this first batch of games post-All-Star, on a positive note, and a standout performer jumped out.

For their first batch of post-All-Star contests, I have to go with Cedi Osman as their standout. Lauri Markkanen and Isaac Okoro were solid as well.

Cedi Osman has stepped up in a big way for the Cavaliers in these last two games, even after a forgettable game against Detroit.

His 19 points (12 in the first half) and five assists were significant for Cleveland in a grind-it-out game over Washington, for one. His contributions helped keep the Cavs in the game there in the first half, and eventually, the team was able to overcome Kyle Kuzma’s big game from staying the course.

Additionally, Osman responded after that Washington game with 21 points in his bench minutes in Cleveland’s near-comeback over Minnesota, when the Cavaliers were at one point down 23 points.

Osman was 5-of-9 from three then, which constituted all of his field goal attempts, and while a late free throw miss didn’t help down the stretch, he did get there eight times, hitting six.

And though three turnovers in each of the last two games weren’t great, he did five assists in both, and with the team thin on point guards, I don’t discount Osman’s playmaking help.

Now to the other noteworthy guys.

The Cavaliers had missed Lauri Markkanen in recent weeks leading into the All-Star break, from an offensive perspective, as even with some up-and-down shooting, his spacing has been key for the team. Markkanen had missed the Cavs last 11 games leading into the break because of a right ankle sprain, and that hurt, as he had been rolling for much of January before the injury occurred.

Admittedly, Markkanen hasn’t been shooting it nearly how he was in that stretch, as in the loss to the Pistons, he was 6-of-16 from the field and 2-of-7 from three. In Cleveland’s win over the Washington Wizards, he went just 6-of-18 from the field in that contest; he was off in the Cavaliers loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday, though.

Still, Markkanen did make some timely plays to help bring the Cavs back against the Pistons, and him going 8-of-10 from the foul line, even with a late miss with close to a minute left, was meaningful.

In the Wizards game, Markkanen hit all of his six field goals made in the second half, and all from three, and went 5-of-6 from the foul line in that one, too, and he helped Cleveland build momentum to eventually find their way to a win.

From there, while he’s not a dude that’s going to be a significant offensive focal point often, Isaac Okoro has been huge for the Cavs defensively. That’s been the case for much of the season so far, too, and despite the Cavs losing two of three, Okoro has done an outstanding job.

He was much of the reason Cade Cunningham shot just 4-of-16 from the field on Thursday, and even with Cunningham getting to the line 10 times and Okoro committing three fouls, one of those was a horrible call in the closing stretch. And Okoro made Cunningham work for everything when he was on him.

Along with that, Okoro’s physical play got after Washington guards/wings on Saturday, and he got a number of crucial loose balls throughout that contest, that also helped generate momentum and easier scores. He was a team-high plus-18 versus the Wiz, too. His three assists and two steals in that game shouldn’t be glossed over, and at Detroit, he did at least make some nice plays offensively, and had 11 points and five rebounds.

Okoro had a decent game versus Minnesota as well, albeit in a loss.

In regards to other notable players, Cedi Osman was realistically the top performer for that win over the Wizards itself, with 19 points and five assists, and Evan Mobley made his presence felt particularly on the defensive end in these games, as did Jarrett Allen.

Plus, Brandon Goodwin made an impact in this first batch of post-All-Star games, which made a difference with the team thin on guards. He started two of these contests, and in plenty of appearances for him as a two-way contributor in the past two or so months, Goodwin has done a more than respectable job.

Goodwin had 13.3 points and 7.7 assists per contest in the three games, and most notably, he had a career-best 12 assists in the near-comeback over Minnesota.

I have to give Jarrett Allen and Kevin Love their credit for their efforts comeback, too. Love had a rough first two post-All-Star outings, but his 26 points against Minnesota were essential for the team to get back in it.

Hopefully the Cavs can get Garland and LeVert back sooner rather than later, though.