1 stud and 1 dud for Cavs in their overtime win over Nuggets

Cavs dud: Isaac Okoro

After an impressive performance against the Philadelphia 76ers in a close loss on Wednesday, Isaac Okoro lived up to his nickname ice as he was just that today when shooting the ball; that’s obviously not the reasoning for the nickname, however, in that sense, it was applicable here.

Okoro was a team-low 25% from the field going 2-of-8 and missing all 3 of his three-point shots. Okoro finished the night with 4 points and 5 rebounds in 37 minutes of action. There is not much to say about this very forgettable offensive performance, and Okoro is going to have to play better on that end if the Cavs wish to hang onto the 6th seed.

Now, on a positive note, Okoro did do a quality job defensively, and did have some really good contests. His grit was still impactful, to some degree, and I can’t necessarily completely grill him here, as he was a plus-18. The offense just needs to be there more consistently.

An honorable mention dud would be Caris LeVert. LeVert also had a solid game against the 76ers but ended this one with an abysmal 27% from the field going 3-of-11. LeVert recorded 10 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists so not awful, per se, but the shot just was not falling. I wanted to give LeVert the benefit of the doubt considering he is still getting used to playing with the Cavs, too, and he did knock down 3 of his 3 attempts from deep.

This was a huge win for the Cavs so I will not dwell too much on the negative but I have to ask the question, no Cedi Osman again? J.B. Bickerstaff again did not play Osman, which is a concerning trend of late.

Anyway, Friday night was the first leg of a back-to-back, as Cleveland will host the Detroit Pistons tomorrow as they look to even up the season series against them.