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Key: New Chapter
If nothing else, it’s been an interesting start to the 2018-19 season for the reigning Eastern Conference champs, who come into tonight’s contest looking for their first win of the season and what Tristan Thompson called “a little get-back” against the Hawks on Tuesday night at The Q.
Nine days ago, in the Cavaliers home opener, the Hawks came to town, drilled 22 three-pointers and handed Cleveland maybe its ugliest loss of the season. That might’ve been the beginning of the spiral that kept the Cavaliers winless and ultimately cost Tyronn Lue his job.
On Sunday, the Cavs made the difficult decision to replace the title-winning head coach with Larry Drew – who took over for an ailing Lue late last season and guided the squad to a 9-1 mark. He’ll face a bigger test over the final 76 regular season contests this time around, starting with tonight’s rematch with the Hawks.
The loss to Atlanta in the home opener was probably the season’s toughest – with Cleveland running out to a 15-point first-quarter lead before watching Atlanta score 40 points in the second period and 41 more in the third, taking the 22-point win.
On Tuesday, the Cavaliers would love to make some progress while christening their new coach by getting into the win column and get a little bit of revenge at the same time.
Key: Young Guns
Tonight’s matchup features the top two point guards taken in this year’s Draft. And if the Cavaliers are looking for some revenge as a team, then Collin Sexton might be looking for some personal payback as a fellow rookie.
In the October loss at The Q, Trae Young put on a show – going off for 35 points and 11 assists, going 6-of-14 from deep and 13-for-23 overall, in just the third game of his NBA career. The last rookie to post numbers like that was the player he’d been compared to heading into the Draft – Stephen Curry, back in 2010.
Through the first six games of the season, the former Oklahoma standout is leading the freshman class in both scoring (19.8 ppg) and assists (6.8 apg).
But Young’s not the only Atlanta rookie making waves. Former North Royalton star Omari Spellman – who went 4-of-5 from deep against Cleveland – leads all first-year players in 3-point field goal percentage (.455) and Kevin Huerter – who grabbed 11 rebounds off the bench against the Cavs – ranks 4th in his class (5.0 rpg) on the boards.
Collin Sexton has been steadily making progress and has posted double-figures in each of his last three outings, including a 12-point effort in Saturday’s loss.
The Young Bull did most of his damage at the stripe – going 8-of-9 – and through six games leads all rookies in free throw percentage (.913) and ranks 6th in scoring (11.2 ppg).
Key: Facing Forward
In just his third year out of Baylor, Taurean Prince continues to improve and before a clunker in Atlanta’s recent loss in Philly, was off to an outstanding start to the season.
Before that 1-for-11 showing against the Sixers, Prince was averaging 20.6 points per, having notched at least 14 points in every game and topping the 20-point mark in three of them. Prince notched 14 points against the Wine & Gold back on October 21 and has averaged 16.4 points per in his last five meetings against them.
The 6-8 forward will match up for much of the night with Cedi Osman, who got off to a strong start this season but has struggled of late.
Through the first three games, the sophomore from Macedonia averaged 17.0 points on 45 percent shooting – doubling-up in the opener and dropping 22 points on the T-Wolves. But over his last three, Cedi’s averaging just 7.0 points per, shooting 27 percent from the floor, 23 percent from beyond the arc.
If the Cavaliers are going to get this season back under control, they’re going to need their second-year forward to rediscover his rhythm.
Key: Bench Help
Though many of the names and faces have changed, the Cavaliers bench has been very good once again this year.
After combining for 64 points in last Thursday’s loss in Detroit, Cleveland’s reserves came back to tally 54 more in Saturday’s meeting against the Pacers. Through the first six games of the season, Cleveland’s bench is averaging 47.8 points – good for 2nd in the NBA.
Jordan Clarkson comes into tonight’s contest as the league’s 4th-leading bench scorer at 16.2 ppg, having notched double-figures in every game this season, including a 12-point effort on 5-for-10 shooting on Saturday night.
Collin Sexton had a solid scoring effort, but struggled from the floor – going just 2-of-8 from the floor. The Young Bull has been picking up his assist numbers over the last two games as well – averaging 4.5 helpers after totaling for just five through the first four games.
Larry Nance Jr. had another strong all-around effort off the bench – notching his first double-double of the season.
The Hawks main weapon off the bench is DeAndre’ Bembry, who’s tallied double-figures in three of Atlanta’s first six games, including a 13-point effort against the Cavs, going 3-of-4 from long-distance in the win.
Key: Centers of Attention
The Cavaliers came into the season with some question marks in the rotation, but they’re pretty solid at the big men spot.
Tristan Thompson got off to a strong start to the season, netting double-digit boards in three of Cleveland’s first four games, including his first double-double of the season in a loss to Minnesota. But he’s slowed down of late – averaging just 6.0 points and 4.5 boards over his last two.
The absence of Kevin Love – who’ll miss his third straight game on Tuesday – obviously affects Thompson. But he’ll have to work through those issues if the Cavs hope to get into the win column on Tuesday.
Larry Nance Jr. has done well picking up the slack for Love over the last two games – playing a solid floor game in last Thursday’s loss to the Pistons – finishing with 11 points, six boards, five assists and three steals.
The former Wyoming standout was even better on Saturday – posting his first double-double of the season, notching 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, adding a game-high 12 boards to go with four assists and a steal.
The Cavaliers would also love to see Ante Zizic, who had a solid summer, get some action and define his role moving forward.