One stud and one dud for Cavs from Saturday’s big win over Bucks

Cavs Dud: Bench, other than Cedi Osman 

This is another game where it’s pretty tough to point out a glaring dud. It was a huge win for the Cavs in the grand scheme of the long NBA season, considering they had only lost back-to-back games twice before this weekend. However, the Cavs were firing on all cylinders last night, even against a short-handed Bucks team.

I could harp on the defending, and that giving up over 100 points to a Bucks team that’s ranked 23rd in points per game this season, and was without their superstar MVP, but I’ll head in a different direction. It was another win, but another underwhelming performance from the bench group overall. Cedi Osman was a sparkplug as usual, finishing with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting.But, outside of him, the rest of the team could only scrounge together eight points from four players.

I wouldn’t say fans should be worried just yet considering we aren’t half way through the season. However, the inconsistency of the bench unit is slowly becoming a larger problem. When you put out a great starting lineup and the dropoff between the two units is steep, it can cause problems. That said, Bickerstaff has done a good job this season of sticking with the hot hand. Still, the Cavs should expect more than 8 points on 3-of-11 shooting from Kevin Love, Dean Wade, Ricky Rubio, and Lamar Stevens combined.

Overall, it was a big win that the Cavaliers needed badly last night. After losing to two tough Western Conference teams, the Cavs were able to take advantage of Giannis’ absence and beat the third-placed team in the Eastern Conference.

As for Evan Mobley, well I think he proved that while it might not always show up in his production and statline, Mobley has gotten much better from last year. I’ll be the first to put my hand up and say I was skeptical. However, last night we saw it all from Mobley. Well, except for the three-point shot, but that will come eventually.

Cleveland will have two days to rest before they head to Madison Square Garden to take on a Knicks team that might make a playoff push. Donovan Mitchell’s status for that game is still unknown, but with a few days off until the next game, one would assume he would be suiting up.

Either way, these next couple games will be a great measuring stick for how good the Cavs really are this season, compared with what’s around them in the Eastern Conference.