This has turned out to be a very entertaining week of Cleveland Cavaliers basketball, even with there being plenty of difficult stretches for the Wine and Gold.
Cleveland has had all four of its games come right down to the wire, and two of those resulted in overtime outcomes. The Cavs had their first OT game of the season in a win over the LA Clippers on Monday night, and even the Clips being somewhat shorthanded, Cleveland showed resolve in that one, and ran away with it in OT.
On Wednesday, the Cavaliers couldn’t pull out a win over the Philadelphia 76ers, but it turned out to be a heck of a game, where Philly prevailed in the closing moments 118-114.
From there, the Cavs had their lulls and lapses defensively, but they stayed the course, and came back against the Denver Nuggets to win in OT once again.
After that thrilling matchup, the Cavaliers had their fourth and final meeting of the season with the Detroit Pistons. This was on the second leg of a back-to-back.
The Pistons have been playing better in recent weeks, despite much of their season having inconsistencies. For a young team that is in the early stages of a rebuild, that’s understandable, though, and Cleveland has had trouble with Detroit still this season.
The Pistons had beaten the Cavs in their last two meetings in Detroit, so even with their big wins of late, the Cavaliers had to take care of business on Saturday night.
It wasn’t an easy contest by any means for the Wine and Gold, who were down 60-55 at halftime, and at times, seemed a bit off for stretches. Some of that had to do with their game on Friday night, I’d imagine, but the Pistons deserve their share of credit still.
Jerami Grant was a handful throughout, as he had 40 points, including 27 in the first half, and knocked in 13-of-22 shots from the field. He was 7-of-9 from three, too, and Saddiq Bey chipped in 20 points for Detroit.
Cleveland did do a pretty solid job against Cade Cunningham in this one, though, and while he had 10 assists, his 15 points came on just 5-of-13 shooting. The Cavaliers did force some key turnovers in the closing stretches as well, and Cunningham himself had five giveaways.
On the other end, the Cavs hit some big shots when they needed them, and got a heck of a lift off the bench from Kevin Love and Cedi Osman, who combined for 30 points off the bench, and were plus-6 and plus-13, respectively. A balanced effort did the job for the Cavaliers overall, also, and in the second half, their defense did fortunately pick up, in what led to a much-needed win to kept themselves on track.
So who was the stud and dud for the Cavs versus the Pistons, then?
We’ll get into that now, in what was a Cavs win that they again, had to have.
There were some really nice performances for the Cavs, who secured their 41st win of the season, and we’ll touch on those quality outings first. There was a noticeable dud still, though.
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.
Cavs dud versus Pistons on Saturday: Lauri Markkanen
He’s been playing really well for the Cavaliers, for the most part, since returning from an 11-game absence due to a high ankle sprain. However, I have to go with Lauri Markkanen as the Cavaliers dud from this Pistons game on Saturday night.
Markkanen has been shooting the ball at a great clip in recent weeks, and for most of this post-All-Star break stretch for Cleveland, as evidenced by a 37.5 percent clip from deep in his 11 appearances. He’s had 16.7 points per outing in that stretch as well, and has definitely settled in and gotten a solid rhythm down since returning from injury.
There still are some really rough nights for Markkanen, either way, though, and Saturday versus the Pistons was one of those.
Lauri only got eight shots from the field up, and made three of those, leading to a 37.5 percent not three-point, but overall shooting clip. He only registered two free throw attempts in this one, from there.
Needless to say, this was not Markkanen’s night. And at the other end, he was often out of position defensively, albeit in some compromising positions.
In fairness, Markkanen was big-time for Cleveland in their W against Denver in that OT win on Friday night with a season-high 31 points in that one, and he was a plus-21 in that contest, so in this second leg of a back-to-back, I’m giving the dude some slack.
Anyway, hopefully the Cavs can keep this winning going once again on Monday against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. I’d expect Markkanen to rebound in that one.