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

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.

Cavs Stud: Evan Mobley

When it comes to picking out a stud and a dud from each game, it doesn’t get much easier than this. After all the early season criticism, Evan Mobley told all his critics to calm down after his sensational performance last night. The second-year player was a force on the offensive end, shooting 19-of-27 from the field. There were times in the second half that he was clearly the most dominant player on the court, on both ends.

However, what makes Mobley’s performance last night so spectacular, is that it is something that you might not ever see again in the history of the league. After finishing with no made free throws or three-pointers last night, Mobley’s 38 points are the most by a player since Hakeem Olajuwan did scored 48 while making no threes or free throws in 1997. With the way the game is going currently, it wouldn’t surprise me if Mobley’s 38 doesn’t get passed up again for a long time.

Overall it was a masterclass from Mobley. He was brilliant on the offensive end, and was still a force in the paint on defense. Fans will continue to criticize the young man because he’s not quite the finished product on offense yet, but last night showed what’s in store.

If Mobley can keep being aggressive and assertive when the time calls, the critics will fade away very quickly.

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.