Sparked by Caris LeVert, Cavaliers Bench is Getting Hot Just in the Nick of Time
There's a meme out that makes its way around the internet from time to time where a stick figure of a person is holding a stick and poking at an object, begging it to do something. There may not be a better image to encapsulate Caris LeVert's time with the Cleveland Cavaliers than that meme.
The Caris Levert experience has been a roller coaster. There's nights of 40-plus points sprinkled into many more rough shooting outings. The inconsistencies, while fairly common for LeVert throughout his career, have driven fans mad, to the point where most wanted him traded out of Cleveland last month. Those thoughts have been tabled, for now anyway.
Entering Thursday night's matchup with the Washington Wizards, LeVert was shooting a red hot 47-percent from the floor and from three since the calendar turned to March. The Columbus, Ohio native showed no signs of cooling off in what was a 117-94 win for the Wine and Gold.
"I mean he's just doing everything," Cavs headman JB Bickerstaff said of LeVert's month long surge. "I mean his defense has been superb. His activie offensively, not just taking shot in but play making and creating for others."
LeVert sliced and diced his way to 15 points on six-of-nine shooting from the floor. He knocked down one of the Cavaliers four three pointers, while adding four rebounds and three assists.
There's never been a lack of effort or aggressiveness from LeVert. But for the first time since returning to his home state last February that aggressiveness is finally paying off.
"He's taken steps and that's the fun part about it," Bickerstaff added. "Just because he's one of our older players doesn't mean that he can't continue to get better and I think what we've seen is a really, really well-rounded version of Caris.
That well-roundedness was on full display on the final bucket of the third quarter. After corralling a pass from Evan Mobley, LeVert made an aggressive drive to the basket only to be cut off by Kristaps Porzingis in the key. In an instant he shuffled to his right, flashed as though he was taking a fadeaway jumper, then dumped a two handed pass around Porzingis to Mobley for an easy slam.
It was a masterful play, made possible by the fact that opponents have to respect LeVert as a scoring threat. Everything is working for LeVert right now and his teammates aren't taking it for granted.
"Just him competing on the ball on the defensive end," Darius Garland said of what's impressed him the most about LeVert's game. "We know that he can start on any team, but he's taken a role that he's started to get adjusted to and he's really excelling in it. So we love to see that from him for sure."
There's no hiding from the fact that the Cavaliers have trotted out, nightly, one of the worst benches in the NBA. In fact the Wine and Gold currently rank third worst in bench scoring across the league.
Over the last four games though, the Cavaliers bench has contributed 30-plus points, including 40 against the Wizards and 45 in that loss to the 76ers. The reserve success certainly starts with LeVert's play but it's trickled down to other veterans like Ricky Rubio and Cedi Osman, who scored eight and five points respectively.
Perhaps most importantly, this is all happening with a mere nine games remaining on the schedule. The perfect time to catch fire, really.
"He's been very consistent for us these last few games and we're definitely going to need that in the playoffs," Evan Mobley said of LeVert. "When everyone is really rolling and on their Ps and Qs, we're a tough team to beat."
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