To say that second-year forward Evan Mobley has had his fair share of critics at the beginning of this season would be an understatement. All it takes is a simple search on Twitter and you’ll see the hundreds of takes that Mobley, “hasn’t improved,” since last year, and that his offensive game might have plateaued. Hell, there’s a pretty good chance you’d see one of my tweets up there criticizing the 21-year-old.
However, last night in a pivotal home game versus one of the NBA’s best teams in the Milwaukee Bucks, Mobley showed that while it might not look like it at times, especially on the offensive end, he certainly has improved from his rookie season. Going into last night’s matchup the Cleveland Cavaliers were coming off of just their third set of back-to-back losses of the season after falling to the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies in the days leading up to Saturday night’s contest.
Mobley led all scorers with a career-high 38, as the Cavs took a three-point halftime lead and held on through the final two quarters. Darius Garland had a great all-around effort last night as well, finishing with 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field, while also dishing out 10 assists. Jrue Holiday led the Bucks in scoring, finishing with 28.
So without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the stud and dud from the game.