Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers dominate Charlotte Hornets at home in an impressive win

Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers dominate Charlotte Hornets at home in an impressive win

The Cleveland Cavaliers are able to flip the script against the Charlotte Hornets and turn out a very dominant home win hear about how they were able to pull this off on today’s locked on Cavs are locked on Cavs your daily Cleveland Cavaliers podcast hey guys how’s it going Evan deal here

One of the co-hosts of lockon Cavs flying solo as my co-host Chris Manning is in the Big Apple um doing work for the New York Knicks uh in some sub before the playoffs begin but before we talk about the Cleveland Cavaliers dominant win over the Charlotte Hornets

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$100 so in this game against the Charlotte Hornets the Cleveland Cavaliers were certainly reeling a little bit um for those who listen to Monday show I described their performance the night before against the Miami Heat as a bag of suck uh shout out to 2006 enjoy skate video back of suck

For just forever being planted in my brain and just putting those words together for me but you know what didn’t suck the how the Cleveland Cavaliers turned the table against the Hornets so it’s pretty clear when you look at Charlotte one of their biggest weaknesses is that big man it’s been that way

Since Big Al was playing Center for them was the last time they really had like an All-Star caliber big man and that’s back when they were the Bobcats not the Hornets so in this match up against Charlotte the Cavs were able to take the head off of the hornet for caught second defensively

When they connected on a uh alley pick and roll between Jared Allen and Darius Garland they’re bread and butter I think a great way to kind of set the tone but you notice pretty quickly that the Cavs were settling for shots because the Hornets had more or less walled off the

Interior and kind of dared Cleveland to beat them with their shooting whether it’s long tubes or it’s uh you know IL shots on the perimeter but I asked JB Baker staff about a postgame but and it really crystallized it but the Hornets just made a concerted effort to get the

Ball out of Darius Garland’s hands as quickly as possible and force it into their bigs who were then getting walled off in the interior who are then trying to kick out the guys on the perimeter that maybe weren’t getting them in the spots they’re typically used to whether

That was from Evan Moy or uh Jared Allen but flip the script after going 133% from three-point range in the first quarter to the second corner where the Cavs just go absolutely bombs away from the perimeter they go s to 10 from Beyond The Arc and they just completely

Blew Charlotte’s defensive game plan wide open and more importantly and more impressively were able just to kind of impos their wheel all over the floor offensively and the the game never really felt like it was Out Of Reach for the Cavs like from wire to wire there

Were moments when Brandon Miller and the Hornets made things interesting for Charlotte but it just felt like the Cavs are never really losing control and to me that’s just you know the signs of yes this is the team that’s licking its wounds clearly they are trying to get

Through the the the dull times of March in this time of the basketball season and just try to get healthy as possible which we touch on that a little bit more in regards to Max stru Dean Wade and Donovan Mitchell actually have a personal update that I got myself on

Them so keep listening but just focusing on this game it really just unlocked so many things and it just made life more conducive much easier for Cleveland I think it certainly helps that the Hornets aren’t a good team they are the 29th ranked overall offense the NBA heading into this matchup I’m morbidly

Curious to see if them or the Pistons or even the Wizards are at Rock Bottom after just how after tonight’s games wrap up but uh Charlotte was pitiful in this game you have to really feel bad for the situation there but there’s no Lamela ball for them uh you know they do

Have Brandon Miller who’s very exciting but the Hornets are work in progress and that the Cav showcased what good teams do against Bad teams where they can kind of flip the switch and just put them away pretty quickly and you saw that in the second quarter where the Cavs were

Just absolutely throttling Charlotte on the perimeter and then they allowed them to open up the inside attack and then you saw that this wasn’t just like the Cavs playing heavy isolation or just kicking it down to a big man and let a big b post up and post post post dribble

Dribble dribble instead it was more so the fact that Cleveland just kind of kept the ball moving and they had we’re finding a lot of an offensive Rhythm that has been lacking for the last few games and I mean the numbers speak for themselves that 91.1% of Cleveland’s made field goal

Attempts were the product of a pass that resulted in an assist and people who will you know be a little bit too critical will point out to the fact that like Darius Garland didn’t score in double figures but Garland was the head of the snake in this matchup in my

Opinion where he was just really dominant for the Cavs all over the floor and just providing him the playmaking and you know just being very comfortable not having to shoulder the entire load offensively in terms of scoring instead just relegating to his teammates and passing to them and getting them

Involved instead so that he doesn’t have to do everything all at once just to carry the load um and more like uh Sam wise gji Darius Garland was able to share the load editor Jake if you put that in slow motion and like superimpose my lips like faded like Sam really would appreciate

That but either way this was just a Flatout dominant performance I think a really good pallet cleanser if you’re Cleveland too um you can tell just the mental fatigue that comes with traveling all the time or just like what the Cavs have been dealing with in general lately

With just when it comes to like the injuries and everything else that they’ve just kind of have to put up with but this is just encouraging if you’re Cleveland this is something you’ll take any day of the week if you the Cavs because they had lost three in a row

Heading into this one they’re off the heels of a very very very frustrating and frankly pitiful loss to the Miami Heat and this is a good tone Setter and a good way to kind of keep building momentum especially when now the Cavs have to go to Charlotte and face a

Hornet Hornet’s team excuse me that is I believe just as bad as they are at home than they are on the road but regardless like the the Cav should be able to take care of business no matter who they have or who they don’t have because a player

That really stood out in this matchup to me and was the exactor wi wire other than Jared Allen who was very very good in this game was Evan moley who had a career defining Knight and uh really showcased his capabilities and the kind of the player that we all expected him

To be but we’ll talk about that in a hot second because got to pay them bills you know and I got to be give you a quick word from today’s first sponsor today’s episode of Locked on Cavs is brought to you by prize pick priz piix is America’s

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This season overall it’s kind of hard to maybe take full stock of it because this is the only the 39th or 40th game Cleveland or excuse me Mobly has played for Cleveland this season but overall like very very impressive a career high eight assist which I can do the number

Crunching as we talk here but like was a very big product of just running and facilitating and just you know functioning the entire offense through Evan Mobly so like for the one of the assists three points another one of the assists two points off of a Darius

Garland layup three points again so that totals you to eight and then you see have mbly get another two that’s 10 and this is just in the fourth quarter jumping back to the third quarter you have another two-pointer so that’s 12 a three-pointer in the second quarter

That’s 15 off an Isaac AO3 you have a three-point shot off George Yang that’s another three so that makes I believe 21 which is 9 + 10 and then finally towards the end of the first quarter Sam Marell made one of the few three-pointers off

Of an Evan Moy assist but this is just a clear indicator that like Evan Mobley was the offensive Hub he was feeling himself he did say like he just kind of was just making the right plays and just trying to move the Rock and facilitate as much as possible but Evan Moy really

Did showcase a lot of what people were hoping for in terms of just being that do it all big man who can be a two-way wrecking force and also just the best player for the Cavs and be a really nice compliment to a fully healthy not ofan

Mitchell if this level of play uh just continues and especially just into the postseason because if the Cavs have a locked in have a Mobly who is moving the rock taking three-pointers uh crashing the glass defending guys on the perimeter or an isolation and also just rotating defend the paint like the Cavs

Will have a incredibly scary thing on their hands and the best best player in the draft CL his respective draft class and Evan Mobley that could make or break a playoff series for them and would be a really nice pallet cleanser just after how poorly he played against the Knicks

Last year in the playoffs I was just really impressed with how dominant Moy was from my wire he did this again I should make this clear like in 24 minutes and 15 56 seconds of action he got most of his burn when the game really got out of hand but was still

Making winning plays and impact no matter who was on the floor with him but yeah I think you know having the Hornets for one game and then having them again is a great way to kind of build momentum and kind of keep things rolling and just more impressively like Moy was really

Really good in this game and I think that cannot be underrated or understated just because the Cavs have struggled mightily defensively they’ve struggled mightily offensively I believe heading into the Miami game they were 18th overall and points scored and 18 18th overall and points allowed per game post

Allstar break but you know is not great if you’re the Cavs you pride yourself on defense and let that be the tone Setter and ever since his rookie season Evan Moy has been the Catalyst for the Cavs in that department and has just been the key Difference Maker and contributor for

Cleveland empowering them to be a Defensive Juggernaut empowering Jared Allen to be arguably in the defensive player of the year conversation if you really want to get funky with it or the all defensive conversation if you really want to get funky with it and just you know doing all the

Little things or like JB bicker staff puts it make winning plays where it’s not about Moy putting up as many garbage shots as possible or putting up as many empty calorie stats like Scotty Barnes does with the Toronto Raptors instead bble is looking to make the winning pass the

Winning play that may not be counted on the statistical chart because he’s just so hyperfocused and obsessed with winning that it’s just kind of always been hiso from the day he came to Cleveland like let us not forget that the Cavs were an AB abolute bottom feeder um JB picker staff even admitted

In mle’s rookie season they didn’t really expect to kind of be as good as they were to wired away and I think a lot of that can be attributed to moy and yeah sure the Hornets aren’t great but they were tied with the Cavs entering the second quarter they did make it

Interesting even though I did say the Cavs were kind of keeping them arms length away but that’s because Evan Moy was on the floor for them just locking things down on defense taking his time defending different opponents whether it was Miles Bridges or Brandon Miller or taking time against like Nick Richards

Or Alexa fuzesi or even Grant Williams who Grant Williams is uh he’s he’s a funny he’s a funny guy he’s he’s just a funny little guy well we’ll just leave it at that um but clearly like Evan Mobley was given a myriad of assignments mostly bigs between fours and fives um

But handled them all in stride and kind of looked like a player who hasn’t missed 32 games so far for the Cavs and also didn’t sit for nine games and just play in an absolute drubbing against the Miami he the night before like he looks

Like a guy who has been one who was on a minutes restriction tonight against Charlotte but looks comfortable in what the Cavs are trying to do on either end of the floor and interestingly enough like Moy shared that this has just kind of been the biggest struggle for him um

This season is just like he’s never really been away from basketball this long like he’s always just used to constantly playing and honing his craft and improving and having basketball more or less be taken away from him was kind of like a cruel punishment just because it’s you don’t have control over

Injuries whether it’s what what what what happened with his knee or the ankle sprain that he suffered against the Celtics or just really anything in between but Moy was just really really good in this game and I think it can’t be understated that he shared that while

He was away he didn’t let it get him down too much he was focused on his recovery I think we all know that he has a healing factor of an X-Men so or an X-Man but it’s just more so the fact that he said he L studied and sat on the

Bench and obviously was involved just watching the team and figuring out like okay this is like a really big strength of ours ours is in mobbly speaking for the Cavs and saying that like how can I accentuate this and make it even better than it already is or maybe there’s some

Clear weaknesses where Evan MO is like okay I have to come in and kind of do this a little bit differently or oh there’s a clear need for this and I can I can provide exactly that or hey Jarrett or I guess George at this point

Just because Dean Wade is out um or even Tristan Thompson or Damen Jones are being asked to do things maybe they’re not quite com comfortable with because that’s something I as in Evan Moy would do personally just when I’m on the floor and so looking at it now like it was a

Crystallization and a lot of a catalyst like Evan Mobly can give you that two-way impact and he’s always giving you that defensively but as the Cavs ride this really unfortunate injury wave that they’ve been kind of just washed and dragged out the shore with every single time this season

Moy can kind of just be the calming presence like he was his rookie season where the Cavs can maintain that defensive first approach but more excitingly and just like on a more fun level like now that Moy is really showing his chops as the player we expected him to be entering year three

And it took a while but like you see the flashes of it at least the off the defense like if you’re watching on YouTube my arm is way way up here but the offense is slowly creeping up and starting to go off screen to match my other arm at that same level because

Evan Moy is just showing that Elite two-way impact that can easily be the best player on the Cleveland Cavaliers regardless of whether or not Donovan Mitchell is here long term or this happens to be his last or second to last season in Cleveland but this was a

Phenomenal game for Moy um I’m excited to see what he does against the Hornets on Wednesday especially with the day of rest because the cabs are off on Tuesday because of playing him back to back but we’ll see what he does on Tuesday or Wednesday excuse me against the Hornets

Um um and then we’ll see how he performs Friday against the Sixers and then has a bit of a road trip coming up but speaking that road trip it’s not just you know the mountain high air or you know the the the the seed of the Earth the Cavs might be able

To enjoy when they’re out in Denver or Salt Lake City well they can’t enjoy anything in Salt Lake City um Phoenix or Phoenix or Los Angeles the Cavs might be getting some reinforcements based on what I was told pregame against Charlotte but before I tell you about

That got to give you a quick word one of today’s sponsors today’s episode of Locked on Cavs is brought to you by better help sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off our chest big or small certain things can really start to get to you it’s important to let that out

Especially to someone who’s unbiased in your life therapy can be different for everyone most of us have bigger problems than our favorite sports team and it is important to get the things off your chest every once a while if you’re thinking of starting therapy give better help a try it’s entirely online designed

To be flexible and suited to your schedule visit betterhelp.com lockon NBA to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp betterhelp.com lockon NBA and we are back as I have mentioned several times I’m Evan damal one of the co-hosts and voices behind behind lockon Cavs the first Cleveland Cavaliers

Podcast of heat your real human voices suck at Chase down but heading into this game everyone was asking JB Baker staff about the loss to the Heat or the dissolving of the nbh leag ignite program and I was able to get a question in towards the end of his availability

And just asked him and I had to frame this carefully because if I were to ask JB straight up how are Max Donovan Dean doing he you would get and this is to JB’s credit that they’re just progressing because bigger staff is a coach that will never

Put a firm timetable on a player because that’s incredibly irresponsible you don’t want to be Let It Be publicly known that a player is coming back at this date or time because that creates public pressure and expectations that maybe rush them back sooner than expected and you really just have to

Trust the players body and also just make sure that they pass certain benchmarks for the Cavs which is usually just being able to practice and also just showcasing that you can maybe handle a full 20 to 25 minutes on the flooor for Cleveland as they ramp up

Your production and help you shake off that rust and get you back into the fold so I really mulled over the question a bit and I framed it this way I said JB between the injuries and I’m paraphrasing a little bit um between the injuries to Donovan Dean and Max and the

Fact that there is 10 11 games Le left in the regular season at this juncture do you expect them to return to to the floor during the regular season to shake off some of that rust to help the ramp up towards the playoffs and I’m going to

Read in full what picker staff said to me so that everyone has a full understanding of it and there is no mincing of words or misunderstandings after the fact JB said to me and I quote we’re hopeful I believe they will all be back in time to play some games getting the

Group an opportunity to play some games together we’ve got some tough road games coming up and I think there will be great test for us and great opportunities for our guys to be back on the floor and get that kind of feeling of playing in an adverse environment

Those types of things we’re focusing on right now are health and habits right we need our guys obviously to take care of themselves and get healthy but then we have to continue on focusing on the habits that are going to make us successful so to me that doesn’t mean

You’ll see Dean Wade or Max Shu or Donovan Mitchell or all three of them or part of them come back Wednesday against Charlotte or Friday against Philly to me that reads possibly Sunday on Easter when they play the Nuggets or when they play the Jazz soon after that or when they

Play the Suns or maybe when they visit Los Angeles to wrap up that road trip to play the Lakers and then the Clippers two nights in a row so there’s opportunities for the Cavs to bring these guys back I think it is Paramount for the Cavs to bring these guys back at

This point because I mean Crepes look at Evan Mobley he is still going to be rusty I think he’s still not like at 100% fully but he’s looking much better and much more comfortable because he’s not coming in completely cold to an a situation just like with the postseason

Whing he has these opportunities in the regular season to shake off the rust kind of regain his wind and his rhythm on the floor that you can’t quite match even if you aren’t or even if you are doing like full-blown cardio constant like you can’t match the level of

Production or just the quality and intensity of in-game reps quite like you can so you you need those opportunities for guys like struce who has missed a ton of games at this point or Mitchell who hasn’t played since the Cavs uh played the Pelicans and then the

Rockets and then he was shut down again because his knee just wasn’t responding the way he hoped it would or Dean Wade who was gone for several games for the birth of his child and then had a knee issue flare up on the injury report that has kept him sideline for several games

Now so you want these guys to have a rhythm and rotation you like you see with Evan Moy I think it’s going to be easier for Donovan Mitchell I think it’s going to be a little bit easier for streu just because they kind of have either defined roles or just G the style

Of play where they will get the ball in their hands and plenty of opportunities to get up shots to just kind of make life a lot more palatable and a lot more enjoyable for them and the Cavs overall but even a guy like Dean Wade I think is

Going to be a key role player for the the Cavs come play off time like he has the ability to defend and play three four and even small ball five he rebounds he is pretty good defending laterally and also he just provides you that perimeter shooting and scoring and

You want him in a rhythm and a little bit of a flow so that he can really give you meaningful minutes even if it’s 10 or 15 most nights in the postseason or spot opportunities where maybe he can be a bit of a spark for you when the Cs

Need something but you’d rather have a guy that is not ice cold coming into that situation and that’s what ideally matters the most if you’re the Cavs you want these guys 100% And like I said biger staff was going to put a firm timetable on them but the he’s hopeful

And he believes I think are the two big things like he did kind of give some insight in his answer and saying that there is hope and a belief that they will play on this upcoming multi-game road trip that the Cavs are about to take so that they can get Donovan

Mitchell Max Ru Dean wade back into the fold get them a little bit more comfortable and then in turn when the Cavs do have some time off because of the playing tournament and the ramp up to the playoffs they can really use those practice opportunities that they

Don’t get at this point of the year to really start drilling in the concepts and schemes that they want to utilize against whomever they draw on the playoffs whether it’s at this point New York if it ends up being like a four five matchup somehow but I doubt that or

It’s like Orlando or Indiana or if they go back higher up on the list they have to deal with Miami or another scary team like that so it this is a very critical time for the Cavs um it’s obviously not ideal but if you’re Cleveland and with all the

Injuries and just some of the crap you’ve dealt with all season long you have to take what you can get and if you’re able to get these guys back sooner rather than later and they’re able to shake off the rust probably play with a minute restriction and just get

Fully comfortable for the postseason that’s what matters most we’ll touch on this more on Wednesday’s show excuse me I’ve locked on cabs but um since I’m going solo going to open up the mailbag I’m going to ask you guys to drop some questions if you drop them in the

YouTube comments below you will get priority I promise you that I’ll be announcing it on Twitter or the dumb platform known as X as well but Wednesday show will be a mailbag and then after the Hornet game I’ll be joined by my subordinate Cavs writer Jackson Flickinger from right down UK to

Talk about the Cavs versus the Hornets and also just kind of get you geared up for the remainder of Cleveland’s week as we just keep working through this day by day just just like the Cleveland Cavaliers are but until then I’m Evan damal this has been locked on Cavs have

Fun stay safe and until next time go Cavs

On a new episode of Locked on Cavs (Tuesday, March 26, 2024) host Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan, Right Down Euclid) discusses Cleveland’s win over the Charlotte Hornets and some encouraging news about the return of Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus and Dean Wade.

Jake Stephens produced this episode. Check out his latest EP “If We Fall Asleep Too Early” on Spotify or wherever you listen to music.

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