Cavs News: Not CLE’s ‘best shot,’ top 5 CLE SF options, DG thumb war

Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports)
Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports)

The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t have the outcome they were looking for on Friday night at the Denver Nuggets in a 121-108 loss. Cleveland was without Donovan Mitchell (rest), but Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Denver cruised in the second half and offensively, they were breaking Cleveland’s often stellar defense down at will.

The Cavs on offense had some encouraging performances, and Caris LeVert had 22 points in another spot start, and Cedi Osman had 15 points off the bench. Nonetheless, free throw woes, as the team went 18-of-32 (56.3 percent), did the Cavs in and one could tell early in the second half it probably wasn’t the Cavs’ night.

Denver is undoubtedly one of the league’s best teams, and they deserve their credit, but Cleveland’s free throw woes, and some off finishing at times in crucial stretches from the bigs/forwards didn’t help. J.B. Bickerstaff gave Denver their flowers, however, he also did state how the Cavaliers didn’t give the Nuggets their “best shot,” given the aforementioned reasons, via Kelsey Russo of The Athletic.

The Cavs have to be sharper in ensuing contests in this road trip, and hopefully are from the stripe, to that point.

More Cavs news

Here at KJG, Quinn Minnich weighed in regarding his take on the Cavaliers’ five best current options to play the small forward position.

Players such as Isaac Okoro and Cedi Osman, among several others, were analyzed by Minnich, and given the discourse among fans involving the Cavs’ wing options, it’s meaningful to add how the Cavaliers have been rumored to be expected to seek help at the 3 via the trade market. Minnich essentially hinted at that as well, before ultimately explaining his reasoning for his top current Cavs 3 option.

Darius Garland was back for the Wine and Gold on Friday night, well, sort of. He had 21 points and eight assists (to only one turnover), and made some impressive finishes in the second half, despite Cleveland’s loss to Denver.

But Garland was hit again in the thumb he recently sprained last Thursday at the Indiana Pacers and Garland’s thumb is still bruised and swollen, per a report from Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, and Garland wore a protective wrap he’s been wearing in practices/workouts to begin the game at Denver before taking it off. He was unfortunately hit again later on in the contest, though, and while Garland did have a better second half, he’s clearly enduring his share of pain with the thumb injury, and he was hit in the face yet again on Friday night.

The injury ailments DG has had throughout this season have been tough, and right now, while he was back Friday, he’s seemingly not close to 100 percent, based on Fedor’s report and Garland’s comments.

NBA news

The NBA MVP Race is a field that looks to be ultra-competitive this season, but there’s still seemingly plenty of the biggest names at or near the top of the conversation right now, with those on contenders rising as well.

In the latest MVP Ladder from NBA.com last updated on Saturday, Michael C. Wright had back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokic at the top of the list based on what he’s doing for the Nuggets. You can also view where Wright had Jayson Tatum, Luka Doncic and others at this link. The MVP conversation is something that will be fun to pay close attention to throughout the rest of the season.

From there, it was intriguing to read a recent piece on Saturday that highlighted three reasons why offensive stats have increased this season from Jordan Greer of Sporting News. One of those reasons has been a talent improvement and higher usage rates; you can check out the other two reasons here.

Next up: Following their second and final meeting of the season with Phoenix tonight, Cleveland is going for the season sweep of the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night.