Nikola Jokic was put in a turnstile by Cleveland’s defense and the Cavaliers were buoyed by valuable role-player performances in an impressive win.
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Craig Porter Jr. Island Timeshare prices
After having what appeared to be his coming out game against the Pistons on Friday night, CPJ fully displayed his skill set in his 25 minutes of play against Denver. Craig Porter Jr., the undersized and uber-athletic guard from Wichita State, displayed his composure to get to his spots going 7-10 from the field and getting to the line seven times as well.
What always seems to jump off the screen when watching Porter Jr is his athleticism. At a compact 6’1” frame, Porter Jr jumps out of the gym and applies his 99 percentile athleticism on the defensive end and in grabbing rebounds no man his size should even compete for. If you weren’t bought into him before, I hope you can take out a pretty hefty loan to buy up whatever shares of Porter J. are left.
Darius Garland’s ability to lead an offense
The short-term memory of a sports fan usually has conclusions made more from “what have you done for me lately” more than what has been done in the past. It appears that some Cavaliers’ fans forgot that the Cavaliers at one point were led by Garland and needed him to be at his best for the team to thrive. Now, after sputtering out of the gates after being hampered by a hamstring injury, Garland is silencing those who questioned his place amongst the best younger guards in the league.
Against the defending champs, Garland was in full control, playing at his preferred pace and having the Cavaliers support players get to their spots. Since his shot struggled to start the season, Garland in his past two games, has pushed all the right buttons offensively and shown that he can still carry an offense in his own right. What has stood out in the two Mitchel-less games is that he is shooting at a higher volume while maintaining efficient shooting numbers as well.
Jarrett Allen, making an impact
Allen, despite the issues he had in the Knicks series, remains important to the Cavs. Sunday night was a great reminder to not only Cavalier fans but to the NBA world as a whole that “hey, Jarrett Allen is kind of great at what he does”.
Allen was a linchpin defensively for the Cavaliers’ scheme to slow down two-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Jokic’s box score would indicate to most, that he had a decent game still flirting with a near triple-double. However, Allen was matched up with Jokic for the majority of the night and still posted an absurd +42 in the plus or minus for the game. Those who are matched with the Joker would love to tread water during those minutes and Allen thrived on both ends in those minutes. Hopefully, this game was just a reminder to the NBA world that Jarrett Allen is capable of being a world wrecker.
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It’s only a few weeks in and the Cavaliers have essentially a lineup of injuries that could be a starting lineup for some teams in the league. Since the beginning of the season, the Cavaliers have had injuries to Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Isaac Okoro, Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert and Ty Jerome. It has caused the Cavaliers to get creative with lineups at times, and if you want to create a positive spin, we could pretend that we are getting the injuries out of the way to start the season. If there is anything we know as basketball fans, the injuries won’t go away and will hit you when you least expect it.