Cavs Core Piece Set To Miss Second Straight Game
The Cleveland Cavaliers will be without one of their key core pieces once again for the second straight game. Evan Mobley, battling knee soreness, is set to miss Monday night's rematch on the road against the Orlando Magic.
Mobley was out for Friday's evening's win over the Miami Heat when he popped up on the injury report with a questionable label Thursday.
In Mobley's absence, the Cavs leaned heavily on a mixture of Max Strus, Dean Wade and Georges Niang at the 4 spot. Of course, there were heroic contributions from the reserves as well.
In addition, Tristan Thompson, who just moved up the ranks in Cleveland's franchise history, received the lion's share of minutes at the backup center position to Jarrett Allen.
The Cavs were able to stay locked in on the defensive end despite Mobley's absence, holding the Heat to 99 points in a double-digit win on the road. It was the wine-and-gold's third straight win.
Unfortunately, the Magic are a longer team with more size than Miami, meaning that the Cavs will probably miss Mobley a little bit more to match up well. We'll see how J.B. Bickerstaff and the team decide to play it rotationally, but it will probably be similar to how we saw things unfold on Friday.
Dec 6, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) and forward Dean Wade (32) go for a rebound against Orlando Magic center Moritz Wagner (21) and forward Paolo Banchero (5) during the second half at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
The Cavs defeated the Magic last week 121-111 with an all-around team win, but Orlando did fight until the end. With a young team looking for revenge, Cleveland will have to bring its A-game on Monday.
Currently, Mobley is averaging a double-double, posting 16.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
