2 studs, 2 duds for Cavaliers in loss to Kings on Wednesday

Two Cavaliers studs: Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert

As for the two biggest positives, I have to go with Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert here.

Mitchell, who has had a monster start to the season with his new team, kept churning along in this one, despite the Cavaliers’ ups and downs as a group. On Wednesday, he had 38 points, and was six-of-14 from three-point range.

Mitchell did take 28 shots to get there, sure, but he hit 16 of them, to go with tacking on five rebounds and four assists (albeit to three turnovers). Realistically, his shot-making, off movement and from pull-ups, and his driving from explosion and change-of-pace, helped get the Cavaliers back in this one. No free throw attempts for Mitchell was weird; even still, his three-level scoring was on display throughout.

In regards to LeVert’s outing, he had 21 points (on nine-of-18 shooting), 10 rebounds and six assists, to go with two steals. And it was nice to see him aid the team in giving them some energy as well, partially with his driving ability, and from hustle plays.

It has still been an adjustment this year in a relatively newer role for LeVert, and he’s still struggled as a scorer inside the arc in plenty of games, which has been puzzling. But, his quickness in getting downhill was big for the Cavaliers on Wednesday night.

After an uneven first quarter, he responded well, leading to 19 points in the final three quarters, and he made some heady passes leading to quality looks for others. His urgency to track down long rebounds made an impact once again for Cleveland in this last outing, too, which I don’t discount.

Now, LeVert did have five turnovers, and was a minus-10 (Mitchell was a minus-eight, for context), however, his aggression here and his energy plays helped get the Cavs juice to get back in the game, which was more of the takeaway relating to his play. I had to acknowledge that.