Cavs News: Phoenix supernova, trade targets, trending up
A supernova is an impressive cosmological event, a “powerful and luminous explosion” of a star. That explosion is the final breath for a star that is dying. Last night, in the fourth quarter of their game against the Phoenix Suns, the Cleveland offense was luminous and the Suns may have been officially dying.
The Suns went to the NBA Finals two seasons ago, had the NBA’s best record last season and were in first place in the West just a few weeks ago. Injuries and the decline of Chris Paul have contributed to the Suns’ death spiral, and they are now just 20-21 on the season.
Last night, the Cavs went into Phoenix just days after beating the Suns by two points in Cleveland. At the end of the third quarter the two teams looked on track for another close finish, with the Cavs up 80-79. Then Cleveland put the clamps down on the Suns and started the fourth on a 27-6 run to put the game away. To go from a one-point lead to pulling your starters in less than 10 minutes of game time is an impressive feat.
It was a balanced effort with six different Cavaliers scoring 13 or more points, with both Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell scoring 22 to lead the team. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley combined for 11 assists, a rare and welcome feat.
After a slow start on the road the Cavs have improved to 8-11 and sit fourth in the East with a 26-15 record overall, 2.5 games back of the Boston Celtics.
More Cavs news
The Cavs are in the market for an upgrade on the wing, the one spot in the starting 5 that isn’t currently occupied by a star. Over the weekend, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com gave two names on Jake Fischer’s podcast “Don’t Aggregate This” that the Cavs are targeting: Bojan Bogdanovic of the Detroit Pistons and Tim Hardaway Jr. of the Dallas Mavericks. We discussed a potential Bogdanovic trade here.
New contributor to the site Dalton Livesay published his debut piece yesterday, looking at three Cavs playing well right now. Will these “Three Cavaliers” continue to play well on this road trip?
NBA news
It was a busy night in the association. Kevin Durant moved past Dominique Wilkins for 14th in career points as the Brooklyn Nets won their 14th game in the last 15, but left early when Jimmy Butler fell back into his knee. Brian Sutterer looks at the incident and predicts an MCL injury of some kind.
Elsewhere, the LA Clippers have now lost six straight with the Atlanta Hawks coming into Los Angeles and picking up the win, while the Dallas Mavericks lost their second in three games when the Oklahoma City Thunder knocked them off. Speaking of losing streaks, the Utah Jazz fell in a close game to the Memphis Grizzlies, 123-118. It was their seventh loss in the last eight games, but no loss has been by more than eight points.
Next. The 3 Cavaliers: Can these CLE players continue to rise while on the road?. dark
Coming up: Tomorrow night the Cavaliers will land in Utah for Donovan Mitchell’s homecoming. Will the home crowd cheer?