The Cleveland Cavaliers had to go head to head against the Orlando Magic last night at the Amway Center without playing any of their regular starters. The Cavs had seven players placed on their injury report: Jarrett Allen, Darius Garland, Caris LeVert, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Isaac Okoro, and Dylan Winder. As a person who attended the game, I believed the Cavs were going to get run over by the Orlando Magic. Thankfully, I was wrong. The Magic had six players placed on their injury list as well: Paolo Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr., Markelle Fultz, Gary Harris, Jonathan Isaac, and Franz Wagner.
The overall grade for the Cavs is a B+. The Cavs struggled at the beginning of the game and allowed the Magic to be up 15-5. The Cavaliers seemed to be rushing to score and made several mistakes throughout the game. Turnovers and fouls seemed to be a normal thing for the Cavs in the first half, but the Cavs turned on the jets in the second half. They slowed down and played great defense, getting 13 steals in the game. This allowed Cleveland to win 118-94, giving them their 51st win.
Take a dive with me as we give grades to the Cavs who took the court last night.
The starters’ grades go as follows:
Ricky Rubio: C
Cedi Osman: B+
Lamar Stevens: C+
Dean Wade: C
Robin Lopez: C
Ricky Rubio receives a C due to the impact he had on the game. Rubio put up 5 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 fouls, and 2-7 field goals. With the Cavs starters being out, I believed that he would have been one of the players that would have stepped up and put the Cavs ahead of the Magic early. It was the opposite in fact. Rubio rushed his shots at the beginning of the game and I believe that led to the Cavs trying to play too fast. Luckily, the Cavs did slow down and won the game.
Cedi Osman received a B+ because he did have a good impact on the game. Osman put up 19 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 turnover, and 7-11 field goals. He shot 4-6 from three and was one of the more reliable players during the game. Cedi knew his role and played it well, further proving how he can give the team a spark if he’s on.
Lamar Stevens receives a C+ due to the stats he had during the game. Stevens had 13 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 1 block. He had great energy on the court and played well on the defensive end. His biggest con though is that he got his points on 5-14 shooting.
Dean Wade received a C due to the same reason as Rubio: his lack of impact. Wade has had moments where he has stepped up big when he has replaced an injured starter. With all of the Cavs starters out, I expected him to have a big game. Instead, Wade only had 7 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal. I believed that he would get 20 or 30 points, but I was wrong.
Robin Lopez receives a C for last night’s game. There were moments where he seemed to not be paying attention and picked up several fouls. Hopefully, Lopez will get it together and be a good backup center in the playoffs.
The bench’s grades goes as follows:
Raul Neto: C-
Sam Merrill: C+
Danny Green: A
Isaiah Mobley: A
Mamadi Diakite: B-
Raul Neto receives a C- due to all of the fouls and turnovers he picked up during the game. He did get 8 assists, but it took 6 turnovers to get there. I’m not particularly worried because Neto is the third point guard behind Garland and Rubio.
Sam Merrill gets a C+ because he did what he was brought in to do: shoot threes. He had 6 points off of 2-6 shooting from three.
Danny Green receives an A due to his great defense and impact coming off the bench, and demonstrated how he could be a key bench contributor in the playoffs if given the chances. The Cavs were struggling from three and on defense in the first, but that all changed when Green came in. He put up 21 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and a block for the Cavs and was the heart and soul for the Cavs defense.
Isaiah Mobley received an A as well as the Cavs’ Junkyard Dog for his effort and performance last night. He put up 18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks and an assist. He was able to show that his brother wasn’t the only Mobley that could make an impact for the Cavs. Hopefully, he can continue this performance and potentially help the Cavaliers a bit in the playoffs.
Lastly, Mamadi Diakite receives a B- for his tough rebounding effort and the 13 points he was able to put up. Although he had a lot of fouls and turnovers, he kept up the tempo and helped the Cavaliers close out the game.
Hopefully, these guys are able to make a great impact on the Cavs bench and can step up when it is required. Who knows? Maybe one of these guys will have a breakout game.