Instead, the Cavaliers received excellent games from the other three top players on the team and surprised the Bulls 103-94.
Darius Garland finished with a near double-double with 22 points and nine assists, Jarrett Allen also barely missed the same feat with 19 points and nine rebounds, and Larry Nance Jr. did manage to pull off a double-double by scoring fourteen points and plucking fourteen rebounds.
Cleveland improved to 17-27 with the win as they deal with the trade deadline tomorrow, the next three games in the west against Los Angeles (Lakers), Sacramento, and Utah and six of the next seven games are on the road.
Swashbucklings
1) Just as the Cavaliers started a seven road games of the next eight-game swing is not the best time to lose your highest scorer, but it was nice to see players stepping up to try to make up the difference.
However, the next three games are all against better teams than the Bulls, and should Collin Sexton miss those games, it's going to take efforts such as these to have even a chance of winning.
2) I haven't been writing as much about the Cavaliers, but I've been watching.
Larry Nance Jr might be the player that if Cleveland placed every player on an available to acquire list that most teams would want first.
Nance has improved his shot and passing and while he may not be the best player on a team, he would be the one player that can help any team.
3) I also wonder about Darius Garland.
On nights like tonight, I think Garland could be a fine player, but he lacks consistency and there are still plenty of questions on a Garland/Sexton backcourt over the long term.
4) If you had to trade either Garland or Sexton, which would you choose?
Sexton's the better player by conventional numbers, but he might be one of those players that scores a lot of points on bad teams and he still hasn't proven that he can settle into a system without the ball.
Garland's shooting has improved, but you still wonder if he isn't a tweener that doesn't shoot well enough to play the two-guard and yet isn't a true point.
5) I doubt the Cavaliers will do very much by the trade deadline.
I think JaVale McGee is the most likely to go, although far from a sure thing and there has been some talk around Cedi Osman.
I'm sure they will try to get anything for Andre Drummond and if anyone had any type of interest in what's left of Kevin Love, the Cavaliers would likely pay them!
6) What I found most interesting came from Sam Amico at FortyEightMinutes.com, but speaking to another general manager (nameless) about which of the Cavaliers young players that he would be interested in acquiring.
https://twitter.com/AmicoHoops/status/1373698856458850304
That makes me wonder about just what Koby Altman's plans for the team are and could the team decide that Altman's plan isn't working and clean house?
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