Oh. My. Goodness.
What a game. Cavs win a double overtime thriller, 147-135. By far the most entertaining game I've watched this season. I can't even begin to describe how unbelievable this one was, start to finish. Kevin Durant ended with 38-12-8, Kyrie had 37, and James Harden had a 21 point triple double. Cedi Osman had an efficient 25-7-7, and Collin Sexton finished with a career high 42 points.
22 of Sexton's points came in the overtime periods, including an absolutely absurd stretch from 0:18 left in the 1st overtime to 1:29 left in the 2nd overtime where he scored 20 straight points for the Cavs. By the time he was done, the score went from 125-122 Brooklyn to 142-131 Cavs. Sexton 20, Nets 6. During that stretch, the Cavs had 9 offensive possessions. Those possessions ended with:
- Crazy reverse putback off the Osman airballed prayer
- Heavily contested three over Kyrie to take the game to double overtime
- Baited Joe Harris into a shooting foul
- Iso three over Joe Harris
- Blew by Harden and got fouled at the basket
- Deep pick and roll three over Kyrie
- Fadeaway over Kyrie
- Iso three over Kevin Durant
- Iso sidestep three over Jeff Green
- 5 threes
- 1 putback layup
- 1 fadeaway
- 2 shooting fouls
All by Sexton. And he didn't miss a single field goal. However, he did oddly go 1-4 from the free throw line but I'm going to completely overlook that. The manner in which he did this was simply unreal. He got blisteringly hot at the right time, and took full advantage of it. Watching it happen live was an unforgettable experience. He took over the game in the most emphatic way possible, and did it while on the same floor as Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving. Jarrett Allen also said postgame that he started talking trash to his old Nets teammates while the shots we still in the air, that's how crazy it got.
Cedi Osman also played great. He had an efficient 25-7-7 on good shot selection, and all 7 of his assists were quality assists. Only one turnover, too. His performance will go under the radar due to the Sexton explosion, but Osman was very impressive last night. He also showed an ability to be effective both on and off the ball as a scorer, which was something I liked. Coming off screens, backdoor cuts, running in transition, it all led to easy shots for Osman. As for the on ball action, it was mostly handoffs and screens that flowed into a pick and roll, and he was good in that area, with a layup and four assists. That's a play he's really good at, sprinting up and getting a pass and screen simultaneously and can either shoot the three off the catch or immediately turn the corner into what's essentially a pick and roll, where he can take advantage of his good passing. I really like it and want to see it more.
Larry Nance's jumper is really proving me wrong. I wanted him to just sit in the corner and stick to being a spot up shooter, but he's showing that he can hit threes from above the break. He's still hitting from the corners, but above the break he's shooting 19-41, 46%. Absolutely ridiculous. His jumper has improved much more than I thought. I don't expect that percentage to maintain itself, but if he can consistently stay in the high 30's from there then that'll be huge for our offense. It still could have been better, he had some postups that I'll let slide for now. His defense was again amazing, getting 4 steals. I think Nance is better than Love at this point, another reason why I've been pushing so hard for a Love trade.
Moving on to the center position, Drummond was Drummond, 6/13 from the field and 4 turnovers. However, it was very encouraging to see Coach Bickerstaff choose Allen over Drummond and also not play McGee entirely. If he's not afraid to bench those two, then that'll be huge going forward. Jarrett Allen was great, 12-11 and 4 blocks on 6-10 shooting. Like Nance, he had a few postups, but as long as that doesn't become a big habit I'll live with it.
Taurean Prince was very good in his debut, scoring an efficient 17 points. He'll be a good role player for us if he continues to hit his shots. Dotson was good too, and it seems like those two are pretty similar in terms of shot selection. We'll see how many minutes are available when everyone gets healthy, but they seem pretty alright for now.
Overall it was a very encouraging win over the Nets in their first game with all of their Big 3 playing. Sexton put the whole league on notice, and the future looks bright in Cleveland.
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