1 stud, 1 dud from Cavs thrilling win over Celtics Wednesday night

1 dud from Cavs win over Celtics: Bench wings

The Cavs have a glut of options at either end of the positional spectrum, but their most glaring weakness this season will continue to be on the wing. With Darius Garland back it was Caris LeVert continuing to get the start at the 3, and while he struggled to defend the elite forwards on the Celtics (56 combined points from Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum) he had a decent enough game with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

It was the wings behind him that struggled, something that has been a season-long trend for Isaac Okoro and a week-long one for Cedi Osman. Together they shot 0-for-3 from the field, which is a bizarrely small amount of shots; Okoro didn’t even attempt a shot from the field, finishing with an empty box score outside of a turnover and two fouls in eight minutes. It’s the continuation of a concerning start to the season for a player once thought to be a key part of the Cavs’ future.

Osman had a hot start to the year, but has gone very cold over the past week. That’s been the store for Osman, hot stretches intermixed with cold ones, and not enough positive impact otherwise to make up for the lows. He is a combined 2-for-16 over the past three games, playing a season-low 13 minutes.

The Cavs need wings they can trust, and that was not Osman or Okoro in this game. Whether it’s Dylan Windler getting healthy, Lamar Stevens getting some burn or ultimately an outside acquisition, the Cavs need more from those spots. In this game it didn’t kill them, but for a team clearly ready to content now, solving every weakness matters.