1 stud and 1 dud for Cavaliers in OT win over Wizards on Sunday

Heading into Sunday night’s game against the Washington Wizards in their home opener, Cleveland Cavaliers fans had to have been encouraged from their early play.

Cleveland didn’t get the job done in a three-point loss at the Toronto Raptors in the season opener on Wednesday, but there were positives from that one, and the Cavaliers handled the Chicago Bulls 128-96 on Saturday. As a side note, the Bulls do desperately miss Lonzo Ball, who is still set to seemingly be out for an extended period, with a knee injury.

Either way, Cavs offseason trade acquisition Donovan Mitchell had been terrific in those two contests, too. And in those first two outings, he became the first Cavaliers player to have 30-plus points in both of his first two games with the Wine and Gold, per the Cavs.

Now, the Cavaliers haven’t had Darius Garland since near the end of the first half of the Toronto game with an eye injury, which is unfortunate early on. He’ll reportedly likely be back later this week.

That said, the group has played really well, for the most part, and they followed up that Chicago game with a win versus Washington on Sunday, in which they prevailed in overtime 117-107. There were a few instances when it seemed the Cavs would pull away, before the Wiz would keep hanging around, and they made some key shots. The game being on the second leg of a back-to-back for the Cavs was tough, objectively.

Cleveland fumbling the lead late led to this one going to overtime, which was still a bit surprising, given how the Cavs largely controlled things since the later portion of the first quarter, to that last point.  Kristaps Porzingis started well, and hit some crucial shots at various points, leading to 18 points, and four triples, and Monte Morris played under control. From there, Bradley Beal was cooking, with 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting, and to reiterate, this one was a hard-fought contest.

However, the Wine and Gold got a spark from their bench in the first half, and Cedi Osman and Dean Wade gave the group energy in stretches.

Osman was one of the key shooters for Cleveland again, leading to 16 points, 13 of which came in the first half, and he hit three triples, and had three assists in 32 minutes, including in overtime. Wade had 12 points, hit two triples, and his defensive positioning and help sense made a difference; his heady sense and movement feel played into him being a game-high plus-19.

I also have to give Jarrett Allen his due for his play, particularly on defense. There were some bumpy moments offensively, and Porzingis got loose from beyond the arc a bit, but Allen did some nice work on switchouts at times, and he came up with a bunch of unheralded plays as a helper, and had two big blocks. His finishing and effort late/in overtime eventually led to him having 15 points and 14 rebounds, too.

So taking everthing into account, then, which players qualified as the Cavs stud and dud from this one?

The stud had to be Donovan Mitchell, from my view.

Cavaliers stud: Donovan Mitchell

Mitchell has had a historic start to open the season with his new team, and kept his scorching ways going in this Wizards matchup.

Mitchell had 37 points, with him going five-of-12 in this one from three-point land. Through three contests, he’s had 30-plus in each game with his new club, which has been a feat done by only two other players in NBA history, per Elias Sports Bureau and as h/t Cavs Notes.

He was getting to the basket effectively with change-of-pace, his strength and his handle, coupled with the looks from range, and while Mitchell did have six turnovers, his shot-making was instrumental here.

Now, Mitchell did have those six turnovers, compared to four assists, and he had the ball stripped on back-to-back possessions late in the fourth, and the game went to overtime when it frankly shouldn’t have.

Mitchell did make a great move to get himself a clean look essentially right near the closing horn at the end of regulation, and missed that, but, he did respond from there in overtime, and free throws were big from him. He was eight-of-nine from the line, and when Washington missed some critical free throws in overtime, Mitchell, despite playing 45 minutes, and on the second night of a back-to-back, was money there.

Additionally, although defense is still an area where he’ll need to show he’s more capable going forward, as he had issues on that end in Utah in recent seasons, Mitchell has looked solid on that end thus far, and he was active as a helper here. He had three steals, and early on, he has appeared to be working hard to at least make his matchups work, and his contests have been sound. Time will tell if that sort of thing keeps up on that end.

Anyhow, by and large, Mitchell came up with a big-time performance in this one. And despite those heavy minutes and maybe some fatigue late, leading to a cold spell in the fourth, he made his presence felt continually, and again, I don’t discount those key free throws.

Cavaliers dud: Isaac Okoro

As for the Cavs dud from this Wizards contest, I have to go with Isaac Okoro here. It’s been a difficult start for Okoro to begin his third season, and despite some encouraging signs in preseason action, the offense has not been there early this regular season in Year 3 for him.

Okoro did reportedly work tirelessly on his shooting this offseason, and has continued to, really, and his altered shot release should help him in time. The issue is thus far, while he has seemed more confident to pull off-ball and to put the ball on the floor, to an extent, the looks haven’t gone down.

Okoro was one-of-four in this one, and was limited to only two points, and missed both of his three-point shot attempts.

He did make Beal work for his production on him in regards to Okoro’s defense, and he was in the right spots to help when there were opportunities there, however, Okoro has to realistically show something offensively in his minutes.

In a second straight start with Garland out, Okoro had two points, and in this last game, he was limited to 20 minutes, and was a minus-five. He had a team-low plus-minus in his minutes for the second consecutive outing.

Granted, plus-minus can be somewhat misleading at times, and you have to take it with context of a players’ workload. But, it’s evident that for Okoro, in a pivotal third campaign for him, he has to demonstrate some tangible offensive growth in meaningful stretches of games.

I again do give him credit for his defensive work, though.

Even still, if this sort of thing persists with Okoro, he could be out of the rotation perhaps sooner than some might think.