Steppin’ Out
It's All for One, One for All
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The regular starring cast of LeBron James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes is a fixture. But throughout the course of the season, role player take center stage, and often, can leave it just as easily. The NBA season is a long run.
Injuries and adjustments have caused Cleveland to tweak its rotation as the campaign makes the final quarter-turn.
At the center of the mid-season mix-up is fourth-year guard Sasha Pavlovic, who has bounced in and out of Coach Brown’s rotation for the better half of two seasons. Pavlovic had one of the year’s more explosive performances on Wednesday night in the Cavaliers’ 124-100 blowout of the Kings at The Q.
In 33 minutes of action, the Serbian swingman netted a career-high 25 points, exploding for 18 in the decisive third quarter. In the period, Pavlovic hit five of the six shots he attempted – including a pair of three-pointers – and was 6-for-6 from the stripe.
“I just came out like I come out every night,” said Sasha. “I try to play hard defensively and I know the offense is going to come.”
It’s only the second time Pavlovic’s broken double-figures since returning from a bout with the flu that knocked him out of a couple games late last month. The fourth-year guard has had difficulty rediscovering his stroke – and his confidence – since returning. But he found it in a big way on Tuesday.
“Sasha’s a confident player,” said Mike Brown following Tuesday’s win. “He could go 0-for-10 and I’m going to step up and tell him to shoot it because he can make plays offensively.”
Pavlovic – drafted 18 spots behind LeBron in what might one day be known as the best Draft in NBA history – has gone from a DNP-CD candidate to one of the essential cogs in the Cavaliers’ machine that has now won six straight with Sasha at shooting guard and Hughes running the point.
Pavlovic had a 21-point game against the Lakers and has never looked back.
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Brown had been mired on the bench and looked nervous when he got off of it. But the former Spartan got just enough time in the March 1 meeting in Dallas to show the coach his stuff.
In a wild turn of events that followed the Mavericks' game, Brown went directly to Albuquerque to play a game for the D-League’s Thunderbirds, where he netted 14 points and six assists. The very next night, Brown flew to Cleveland, scored a career-high 14 points in a 120-97 win over the Raptors at The Q. Three of his 14 came on a half-court shot to beat the first half buzzer.
Since then, Brown has showed more than a few glimpses of the athletic gifts that made him the 22nd overall pick in the 2006 Draft.
But perhaps the least likely role player to come to the late-season forefront is Ira Newble, who turned in 18 DNP-CD’s and 38 games on the inactive list before canning a huge three-pointer last Saturday night in Milwaukee to help the Cavaliers squeak past the Bucks.
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After a short and scoreless stint against the Pacers on Sunday, Newble got his first start of the season on Tuesday night against the Kings. He responded like a true veteran, guarding Ron Artest and going 4-for-8 from the floor – including a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc – for a season-high 12 points.
“Ira has come in the past couple of games and played well,” praised Brown. “To see him get some minutes … and defend one of the toughest offensive players in the league the way that he did, I thought that was very exciting to see.”
These three role players have performed well recently, but by this time next week, it could be Damon Jones stepping back into the spotlight. It could be David Wesley or Scot Pollard or Dwayne Jones.
The fact is that the NBA is a long grind and sometimes one game, one shot, one play can mean the difference between being on the floor for crunch time or being on the bench in a suit.
