Cavs News: Merrill 10-day, March for all the marbles, MVP Ladder update

The Cleveland Cavaliers still are a group that are young in some key areas, and they are not a finished product.

As opposed to the top three seeds currently in the Eastern Conference, the Cavs are figuring some things out game-to-game. That was part of the reason as for them being out of sync at times in the second half during their loss on Wednesday night to the Boston Celtics on the road, when a dominant Boston third quarter ultimately led to the Cavs’ demise.

On a positive note, the Cavaliers did close the game strong, and made the game closer than it should’ve been, resulting in a 117-113 L.

It was also a relief that Donovan Mitchell was not listed on the injury report for Saturday night’s game versus the Detroit Pistons after seemingly hurting his groin again in that game, and reportedly practiced on Friday. In this stretch run, one can’t truly quantify all that means for the Wine and Gold.

More Cavs news

As we head deeper into post-All-Star break play, the Cavaliers have to take care of business in March. The Wine and Gold are currently fourth in the East, and they have to iron out some things as the squad looks to sure up their playoff positioning.

The top of the East has been playing dynamite basketball for some time, but the Cavs have to ensure they’re keeping their position, if not looking to improve that, throughout this month to keep themselves in a spot ensuring homecourt advantage. The gist is, the month of March is assuredly a crucial time for these Cavaliers, as KJG’s Josh Ungar emphasized in a piece on Friday.

Hopefully, the Wine and Gold can have productive weeks ahead as they look to hold off the surging New York Knicks, the club that’s currently fifth in the East.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the Cavaliers were planning to sign guard Sam Merrill to a 10-day contract. The team would eventually announce that signing on Friday afternoon via team release.

Merrill’s lit it up from three-point range this season with the Cavaliers G League Affiliate, the Cleveland Charge, and while it’s tough to forecast if he’ll have any meaningful minutes, he could potentially give the team a shooting lift. With the Charge, Merrill has had 15.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per contest in 16 starts, in 17 appearances, and he’s most notably connected on 42.3 percent of his 8.1 deep attempts per game.

NBA news

With calendar turning to March, the NBA MVP Race is entering the closing stretch, and there’s a number of worthy candidates in what looks to be a tight competition.

Nikola Jokic could very well hoist his third straight MVP, and the Denver Nuggets are No. 1 in the Western Conference, but former back-to-back MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo should figure to be right in the thick of that conversation once again. Ditto for Joel Embiid, last year’s runner-up.

There’s been a player that’s been on the rise of late, as author Michael C. Wright of NBA.com expressed. You can see who that player is at the link above.

Next Up: The Cavaliers will host the Pistons on Saturday night, in the game sandwiched between their last two meetings with the Celtics this season, at least in the regular season.