The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Phoenix Suns at home by a score of 111-98 in the first game after the All-Star break.
Coming off the All-Star break the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated one of the two teams with a worse record. Beating the Phoenix Suns by a score of 111-98 at home Thursday. Cleveland’s offense was powered by a season-high 34 assists.
Cedi Osman led the Cavaliers in scoring with 19 points in 34 minutes. Osman made seven of 12 attempts from the field, including going 5-8 from deep. In addition to his scoring effort, Osman added five rebounds and five assists. It is encouraging to see that Osman saw the floor for 34 minutes after only playing 25 minutes in last Wednesday’s minutes restricted loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
Kevin Love played a rather light 22 minutes in the victory. Love was able to score 16 points on 6-13 from the field and making three of eight three-point attempts. Love was able to start his post All-Star break campaign with a double-double by hauling in 11 rebounds. Playing time will slowly increase for Love as time goes on.
Jordan Clarkson was able to continue his impressive run coming off the bench. In 24 minutes Clarkson scored 15 points while shooting 5-12 overall, this includes making two of five three-pointers in the contest.
Cleveland big man Ante Zizic was also able to accrue a double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, four of which were of the offensive variety.
The Cavaliers were able to out-rebound the Suns 62-43. When a team is able to grab 20 more rebounds than their opponent winning becomes that much easier. What also helps is the advantage Cleveland had in regards to points in the paint. Cleveland scored 52 points in the paint compared to Phoenix’s 38. Controlling the paint by that large of a margin is often what leads a team to victory.
Cavaliers notes
Tristan Thompson is still out and currently does not have a timetable for return. Thompson is being brought along slowly rather than rushing back and risking another injury.
The Cavaliers next game is against the Grizzlies at home on Saturday at 7 P.M.
