2 studs and 1 dud for Cavs from Wednesday’s win over the Mavericks
Cavs dud (sort of): Bench unit
After watching last night’s performance, there aren’t a ton of things to complain about. They out-rebounded the Mavericks, had less turnovers, and shot better than them from the field. Overall, it was a great win all around. However, one area for concern going forward has to be the bench.
Caris LeVert was awesome with 11 points in the second unit, but other than him, the only scorer was Isaac Okoro, who had only two points. The front office has a lot of time to add some playmakers to the second unit, and Ricky Rubio is reportedly getting closer to a return, but simply put, 13 combined points off the bench won’t cut it come May.
With that being said, it should be a great week-and-a-half before Christmas for the Cavaliers, or at least I’m hoping it will be. Between now and Dec. 26, Cleveland will take on the Indiana Pacers (Friday), Dallas (Saturday), Utah Jazz (Monday, Dec. 19), Milwaukee Bucks (Wednesday, Dec. 21), Toronto Raptors (Friday, Dec. 23), and Brooklyn Nets (Monday, Dec. 26) at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. It’s their longest homestand of the year.
After getting the win and improving to 18-11 on the season, the Cavaliers still sit in third-place in the Eastern Conference, four games behind the first seed Celtics, and one game ahead of Brooklyn in fourth place.
dark. Next. This Cavaliers big man was their Player of the Week for Dec. 5-12
With Giannis, Durant, and Luka coming to town in the next few days, it’s going to be important for the Cavs to be healthy and win the majority of the next six games to stay atop the hunt in the Eastern Conference.