A Sunday evening game against the LA Clippers should have afforded the Cleveland Cavaliers a chance to test themselves against one of the Western Conference’s most talented teams. Instead, the Clippers sat Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, among other injured rotation players, and the game went from test to trap.
The Cavs were in a similar situation earlier this month when the Golden State Warriors came into town and rested their starters, and the Cavs fumbled the ball and let the Warriors’ “B Team” take them down. They remembered that loss and came out last night determined not to be embarrassed again.
Mission accomplished. Cleveland was up by 16 points at the end of the first quarter and up 30 at halftime, never looking back in a 122-99 victory. It was the 18th time this season the Cavaliers have held a team under 100 points; no other team in the NBA has done so more than 11 times.
Cedi Osman led the way off the bench on Turkish Heritage Night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, tying his career high with 29 points on a scorching 7-of-7 from deep. He was the third players in Cavs history to hit seven or more 3-pointers without a miss, joining Kyrie Irving and Mo Williams:
In tonight's win, @cediosman finished with a career-high tying 29 PTS (11-13 FG, 7-7 3FG), 2 STL and 1 BLK.
— Cavs Notes (@CavsNotes) January 30, 2023
Osman is just the 3rd player in @cavs history to finish a game a perfect 7-7 or better from three, joining Kyrie Irving (7-7, 3/12/15) and Mo Williams (7-7, 11/28/09).
As a team, the Cavaliers shot 20-of-33 from deep, a scorching 60.6 percent. The Clippers hit just two of their 19 3-pointers, a shockingly low shooting performance. Only one time this season did a team hold its opponent to just one 3-point make, when the Utah Jazz smothered the Charlotte Hornets a week ago.
Perhaps the most impressive 3-point stat of the night, however, may have been Jarrett Allen hitting his first 3-pointer of the season, and busting out a three-finger afro pick celebration:
Jarrett Allen buries his first three of the season to put the Cavs up 40 🔥pic.twitter.com/GT0OHqzEjw
— Cavs Nation (@CavsNationCP) January 30, 2023
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In hitting seven 3-pointers last night, Cedi Osman moved into sixth place on the Cavs’ all-time 3-pointers list, passing Daniel “Boobie” Gibson and coming within two of J.R. Smith. From there, it’s a long ways to reach Kyrie Irving in fourth. Behind him, Darius Garland is already in 10th place and will likely catch up to Osman next season. Donovan Mitchell is in 34th, likely to get to around 20th in just one season. Health-permitting, he is a lock to set the single-game 3-point record.
For those wondering, after his 3-pointer last night Jarrett Allen is now in a tie for 158th with eight career 3s, breaking a tie with Kay Felder and Drew Gooden.
Here on the site Gibson Lowenberg engaged with the question of whether the Cavaliers should pursue a trade for a New York Knicks wing. Robbie DiPaola also had an excellent looks at the top individual performances from each of the Cavs’ key players; Cedi Osman saw the piece and submitted his entry a few hours later.
NBA news
It was a light sports day in America as schedule-makers accounted for the Championship Games in the NFL, but that didn’t stop Giannis Antetokounmpo from taking advantage of the opportunity to play basketball. He went off for 50 points in just 30 minutes to take down the New Orleans Pelicans. Ja Morant led the Memphis Grizzlies to a win over the Indiana Pacers to snap their losing streak, while Terry Rozier dropped 31 points in the Charlotte Hornets’ upset victory over the Miami Heat.
Coming up: The Cavaliers stay at home to host the Miami Heat on Tuesday night.