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CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers have won nine of their last 13 games, and still aren’t close to playing up to their full potential. That’s both encouraging and frustrating. Friday’s ugly 123-118 win against the Sacramento Kings showed why.
Head coach Kenny Atkinson has made some crazy comparisons during his two seasons in Cleveland. After Evan Mobley’s 29-point, 13-rebound, and seven-assist performance, he compared him to Shaquille O’Neal.
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“Man, I don’t know about that,” Mobley said.
Mobley wasn’t Shaq, but he completely controlled the paint on both sides of the floor.
Before the game, Kings head coach Doug Christie said his team needed to push Mobley off of his spots. That didn’t happen.
Mobley went 6-8 on shots in the restricted area and 12-18 on overall shots in the paint. He was able to get to the basket on repeat, and when he was cut off, the hook shot and turnaround jumper were falling. Mobley is at his best when he’s playing aggressively and making quick and strong decisions. That — combined with going against a weaker Sacramento frontcourt — led to his scoring success.
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“That’s what we like to see,” Donovan Mitchell said of Mobley’s mindset. “A lot of times, he just has to go up and be aggressive, and that’s what he was for 48 minutes tonight. He was like, ‘I’m going to attack and make good decisions.’ … Not so much necessarily us continuing to get it to him, but him being like, ‘I’m getting downhill. They can’t stop me. I’m getting to the paint.’”
The offensive showcase extended to his playmaking as well. Mobley has become more comfortable finding the open man when extra defenders have come his way. This is the area he’s grown the most since the beginning of the season, when he had a difficult time handling double teams.
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Mobley was more impressive defensively.
He registered four blocks and was a large reason why the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/4-takeaways-cavs-123-118-060000028.html
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Publish date : 2026-01-24 06:00:00
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