Heading into the All-Star break, the Cleveland Cavaliers had far from their best game in a loss at the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. In the contest, Cleveland was down by as many as 28 points, and Philadelphia had a 63-38 lead at halftime.
The Cavaliers had a hell of a response in the final 24 minutes, though, and in the process, gained some momentum going into the All-Star festivities and an extended break for the league. Led by Donovan Mitchell and more urgency on the defensive end, Cleveland gave themselves a puncher’s chance going into the fourth quarter, and kept clawing away.
Eventually, the Cavs actually cut Philadelphia’s lead to four points, and Mitchell, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley had it going after half. Energy plays from Caris LeVert helped the club get back into things, too.
Cleveland would lose, and their seven-game winning streak was snapped, but with post-All-Star break ahead, it was nice to see a resilient bunch in the Wine and Gold respond and not simply give in.
In the mean time, the NBA’s All-Star Weekend now has gotten underway in Salt Lake City, and Donovan Mitchell will be making his first appearance as an All-Star starter at his former longtime home arena in Utah.
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Caris LeVert hasn’t had the offensive splits he had in prior stops with the Cavaliers, and at times, he still can be a tough fit playing in lineups with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, for example.
That said, LeVert has contributed in other ways for Cleveland, to his credit, and he’s done a solid job adjusting his role to help the team as the season has worn on. He discussed that, eventually sticking with the team through the deadline, even with constant rumors involving him as a potential trade piece, and more recently in media availability, courtesy of Spencer Davies of BasketballNews.com.
Cavs fans that are still unsure about LeVert’s viability might have more of an appreciation for him after reading Davies’ piece.
Here at KJG on Friday, John Suchan put the spotlight on five ACC prospects the Cavaliers should be paying close attention to regarding the 2023 NBA Draft. Cleveland is slated to have a mid-second round pick for now, and could land a meaningful piece there, or maybe they could look to package that selection and future assets to move up into the first, theoretically.
For a team like the Cavs, finding second-round gems in coming years could still prove crucial with those players being on very team-friendly deals.
NBA news
The NBA kicked off its All-Star Weekend with the All-Star Celebrity Game on Friday, followed up by the Jordan Rising Stars tourney, which featured Evan Mobley, Josh Giddey, Franz Wagner as notable sophomores, and Paolo Banchero, Jabari Smith Jr., among others, as notable rookies.
It was of course noteworthy how it was on Michael Jordan’s 60th birthday last night, and he had his share of shoutouts on the telecast. In the tournament itself, Team Joakim Noah and Team Pau Gasol eventually faced off in the title after initial wins with games to 40 with Elam Ending scoring.
In the final contest between those squads, Team Pau would win behind Banchero’s efforts, and in both of his games last night, Jose Alvarado was the energizer. He had 13 points in their win over Team Deron Williams, and in the final, had five points, including the game-winning three to get to the target score of 25. Alvarado was the tournament’s MVP, and with him as the only undrafted NBA player in the tourney, that was pretty inspiring.
Jose Alvarado earns MVP honors at #JordanRisingStars 👏 pic.twitter.com/5BrQ2B9lma
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 18, 2023
Another especially notable performer was Quentin Grimes, who put on a fireworks show in the final. Then, he had 14 of Team Joakim Noah’s 20 points and nailed four triples.
Next Up: The Cavaliers will face the Denver Nuggets next Thursday in the first game post-All-Star break.