1 stud and 1 dud for Cavs from their win over Pistons on Saturday

Cavs stud versus Pistons on Saturday: Cedi Osman

The Cavaliers got great play out of Darius Garland, which has largely become commonplace, and in this last contest, he had yet another double-double, with 24 points, 12 assists and two steals. He was only 1-of-6 from three, but made some crucial plays again down the stretch, and was 7-of-12 from two-point range, and hit 7-of-8 free throws.

As far as other starters, I can’t discount Lamar Stevens‘ 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting, and both him and Evan Mobley (12 points and 11 rebounds) made some significant plays defensively. Mobley’s six assists made a difference as well.

That said, to me, the clear stud in this contest was Cedi Osman off the bench. Osman had been off in recent games, and unfortunately had DNPs in the past two games, which was odd, even with head coach J.B. Bickerstaff favoring Dylan Windler a bit of late, seemingly for defense.

But here, it was nice to see Osman back in the fold, given what he’s provided for this Cavs team a bunch this season, and in this one, he provided plenty of energy for the Wine and Gold.

Osman had 16 big points on Saturday night, with some of those being key buckets to give the squad a lift in transition, and it was good to see him have a couple deep balls going down once again, as he’s had a bunch this season when given the opportunities. He was 7-of-12 from the field, with him plenty coming from decisive plays, and he tacked on five rebounds and two assists.

Now, I’m not glossing over Kevin Love’s double-double effort in this contest, either, nor Garland’s efforts.

I just personally had to go with Osman as Saturday’s night for Cleveland, and even with Detroit not being a good team, they’ve been much better post-All-Star break, and Osman making his minutes count after his two DNPs was huge here.