What Did Evan Mobley Think Of Max Strus' Poster Dunk In Cavaliers Win?
Just 12 games into his Cleveland Cavaliers tenure, Max Strus is making his presence felt on both ends of the floor. On Friday night, he made sure Detroit Piston's forward Ausar Thompson felt his presence too.
Thompson ended up on the receiving end of a Sportcenter Top 10 worthy, poster dunk from Strus, as part of a thrilling sequence from the wine and gold.
At the time, Cleveland led 50-41 in the second quarter as Georges Niang grabbed a defensive board and pushed the ball up to Strus in transition, who pulled up for three. While that initial shot attempt was off the mark, star forward Evan Mobley was cutting to the basket, corralled the rebound as he was falling out of bounds and fired it back to Strus streaking down the lane.
The 27-year-old did the rest, leaping into the air without much concern for Thompson standing his ground underneath the basket and slamming it home for a thrilling poster dunk for the Cavs.
Mobley, who had a unique perspective of the play – earning the assist for his efforts to save the ball and kick it back to Strus in one swift motion – remained awe-inspired by his teammate's powerful dunk.
"Just flying through the lane, he took off far," Mobley said,describing the play. "Each dunk [he has] is just, I don't know, amazing to me. I don't know where he gets it from."
The impressive slam made up two of Strus' 18 points from a 108-100 win over the Pistons. Mobley added 18 points of his own along with 10 rebounds in what wound up being the team's first win of the In-Season tournament.
Meanwhile, the Mobley-Strus two-man game has been must-see TV through the first few weeks of the season. On Friday night, Strus assisted on three of Mobley's buckets, while Mobley returned the favor on the aforementioned dunk.
"We continue to build great chemistry," Mobley said. "Just playing two-man game and putting that chemistry up and it just keeps getting better and better.
"Just got the offensive rebound, got it to him – showtime play."
The highlight is a nice feather in the cap for the duo early in the season. As their chemistry continues to grow though, there is surely plenty more to come.
