Cavaliers Now

Ty Jerome and De'Andre Hunter Combine for 35 Points, Cavs Clinch No. 1 Seed

Matt Newton

David Richard-Imagn Images
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On the six-year anniversary of the day that they won the 2019 National Championship, former UVA basketball stars Ty Jerome and De'Andre Hunter combined to score 35 points and dish out nine assists off the bench to help the Cleveland Cavaliers take down the Chicago Bulls 135-113 on Tuesday and clinch the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Eastern Conference playoffs.

De'Andre Hunter scored 17 points on 7/15 shooting from the floor and also recorded four assists, two rebounds, and three steals and was +5 in 26 minutes off the bench. In 22 minutes of playing time, Ty Jerome was +23 and shot 7/11 from the field and 3/4 from beyond the arc en route to scoring 18 points and posting five assists, including this beauty of a lob in transition to set up an alley-oop dunk for Hunter. The Cavs Twitter account aptly called it "That Cavalier connection."

Since coming to Cleveland from Atlanta via trade in early February, Hunter is averaging 14.0 points and 3.9 rebounds per game and shooting what would be a career-high 42.5% from beyond the arc. He has scored in double figures in each of his last 10 games and all but five of his games since joining the Cavs, including a season-high 32-point performance in a win over the Portland Trail Blazers on March 2nd. Jerome scored 25 points in that game, so the two former (and current) Cavaliers combined for 57 points in the victory.

Hunter and Jerome are both in the top five in the race for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award. The problem is, they are fourth and fifth, respectively, in the latest odds according to BetMGM. Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard, who has been the frontrunner for the award most of the season, has essentially had the award on lock since he scored 43 points against Portland on March 5th.

Latest Odds to Win 2025 NBA Sixth Man of the Year
Payton Pritchard, Boston Celtics: -1400
Malik Beasley, Detroit Pistons: +500
Russell Westbrook, Denver Nuggets: +6600
De'Andre Hunter, Cleveland Cavaliers: +15000
Ty Jerome, Cleveland Cavaliers: +20000

Though our vote would still be for Hunter and Jerome to share the award, it seems this is Pritchard's year. But that's okay, as Hunter and Jerome have bigger goals ahead of them as they look to win another championship together as Cavaliers. With Cleveland securing the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, which are set to begin on April 19th, the Cavs will likely rest many of their important players for at least some of the final three games of the regular season.

Two other former Wahoos are in position to make the NBA playoffs as well. Sam Hauser and the reigning NBA Champion Boston Celtics are 59-20 and are locked in to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Jay Huff and the Memphis Grizzlies are in a four-way tie for fourth place in the Western Conference standings, but due to the logjam of teams with similar records around them, the Grizzlies could very well find themselves below that No. 6 seed cut line and forced to participate in a play-in game just to make the playoffs.

Ryan Dunn, who scored 12 points in his 40th start of his rookie season on Tuesday night, and the Phoenix Suns are one game away from being completely eliminated from postseason contention following their loss to the Golden State Warriors. The other Virginia rookie, Reece Beekman, is getting more playing time than ever for the eliminated Brooklyn Nets. After scoring in double figures for the first time in his first-career start on Sunday with a 14-point performance against the Toronto Raptors, Beekman followed that up by scoring zero points, but dished out 10 assists to go along with four rebounds and three steals as he helped the Nets defeat the New Orleans Pelicans 119-114 on Tuesday.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.