Heading into their third game of the 2022 preseason, the Cleveland Cavaliers were looking to bounce back, particularly from a rough showing on Monday. In their second game against the Philadelphia 76ers, with the last one at home, Cleveland had a less than stellar start, even with Joel Embiid out in that one (rest).
Now, it’s not been ideal that the Cavaliers haven’t had Evan Mobley (ankle sprain) in preseason action yet, as an aside, and in the past two preseason games, Kevin Love (knee) has not been in action. On the plus side, it’s nothing serious with Mobley, as he’s reportedly progressing nicely, and it’s the same with Love, who missed Wednesday’s preseason game against the Atlanta Hawks as well because of precaution from a banged-up knee. It’s nothing to realistically worry too much about with Love, in that realm.
As for this third preseason contest for Cleveland, they had a pretty solid performance, given the circumstances, and while it’s preseason, it was nice to see a number of guys have quality games. The Cavs defense ramped up when it had to, too, and even with Dejounte Murray hitting some tough looks, Cleveland didn’t made things easy for Trae Young in some crucial stretches, and others aside from John Collins were inconsistent. Plus, the Wine and Gold had 30 assists, and connected on 16 threes.
A few notable performers included the likes of Isaac Okoro, who was assertive in a game where he started this go-round with Caris LeVert, one of the guys he’s battling for the starting 3 spot, resting, which was great to see, even more so in the first half. Okoro finished with 16 points. He knocked in two threes, and tacked on three assists and three steals as well; there were three turnovers, but his conviction jumped out.
And along the lines of other key starting defenders, Jarrett Allen was a constant force there, despite not getting a ton of looks offensively, as he had five blocks. His interior defense was terrific.
I have to give Cedi Osman his credit, too, as he helped spark the Cavaliers off the bench, and ended up with 16 points, and canned four threes himself, and added seven rebounds. He was a game-high plus-28, and generally, it was nice to see him make an impact when the opportunity came knocking.
From there, training camp invite Mamadi Diakite continued to be give the team energy, and with extended run in the third preseason outing, he actually had a triple-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, was a plus-17, and even knocked in two deep balls. He’s only aided his case to be a potential candidate for Cleveland’s final roster spot.
So with those things in mind, let’s take a closer look at the stud and dud for the Cavs from Wednesday’s preseason W over the Hawks.
It was close, but two players jumped out in that realm, both of which we’ll examine further here, beginning with the stud for the Wine and Gold.
Cavs stud: Darius Garland
There were a few candidates to ultimately snag this distinction from me, such as Okoro and Diakite, in particular, but I ended up going with Darius Garland.
The overall shooting splits from Garland were far from outstanding at 8-of-21 overall, a 38.1 percent clip. Having said that, he notched 23 points and shot 4-of-10 from three-point range, and I thought his off-ball shooting and willingness to pull off movement was very encouraging here.
Whether it was from spray-outs from Donovan Mitchell, or handoffs from others, it’s been awesome to see Garland getting legit off-ball and/or movement looks.
Along with the perimeter shooting from him, Garland’s vision was also on display in a big way, as he tallied 12 assists (to three turnovers, for reference).
The timing from him in hitting shooters, coupled with his pick-and-roll play and making heady plays to Allen led to him helping get the Cavaliers going at key points on Wednesday.
The third quarter lull featured some stagnant offense, and there were some instances of over-dribbling from Garland and Mitchell, but by and large, Garland, especially, was on-point with his table setting versus the Hawks. His passing versatility and timing, combined with his scoring presence, make him so difficult to account for.
In addition, his timing in playing pass lanes on the other end led to three steals, and in the game, he was a plus-24, as far as the game in totality. And his attention to detail, at least as an off-ball defender, to some extent, will keep getting better.
Cavs dud: Raul Neto
For the Cavs dud in this one, I’m going with Raul Neto. Neto has done some good things thus far in preseason, and I do believe he’ll be able to fill in some as a depth lead guard presence, and he was a sensible team-friendly, veteran signing with Ricky Rubio feasibly not back until December/January.
While Lamar Stevens did not have much going well on Wednesday, and had 0 points in a start as a fill-in 4, and he did have five fouls in 16 minutes, his activity on the glass (six rebounds) and his activity did help Cleveland a bit. Granted, looking onward, Stevens does need to be a bit more under control with his defensive approach; still, I do want him making offensive threats feel his presence on that end.
Anyway, I ended up going with Neto as the Cavs dud from this preseason win over the Hawks, because he just couldn’t seem to get it going, and appeared to be out of sorts in relation to the ball movement aspect.
Neto’s in a new situation, and I know he’s not necessarily a crucial offensive player to keep an eye on, however, him going 1-of-7 on Wednesday was rough to watch, and though he did have two assists, he was in some compromising spots on-ball, and had two turnovers, too.
He was out of sorts in spots, and while it’s not a huge concern, and the lineups had plenty to do with it, Neto was pressing a bit, which seemed odd to me.
Again, I don’t read much into it from him, as it’s preseason. But even with plus-minus being somewhat misleading at times in games, on Wednesday, him being a game-low minus-16, from the Cavs’ perspective, wasn’t shocking to see.
But, I’m not necessarily too concerned about Neto within his role.