News - Cleveland Cavaliers - Shams

The season is underway and Cleveland have come out the gates flying with an undefeated 4-0 week. Granted we didn't have the most difficult schedule to start but it's good to see us winning games that we should be winning. Cleveland had a great offseason where the idea was to get better without giving up our most prized assets and we here at the Chronicle feel they've done well at that. Evan Fournier's acquisition during free agency was questioned by many and Fournier silenced the critics that compared him to Marcus Morris. Fournier in week 1 put up averages of 20.5ppg, 5.3rpg, 4.8apg and 1 steal. We spoke with Bogdan about what playing with Fournier has been like, "It's been great he has been amazing out there for us, it's been a breath of fresh air to feel confident in giving up the ball and someone else being able to put the ball in the hole as good as he can, as well as setting up others offense." Bogdan has come out this season joining Fournier in the 20ppg club averaging 20ppg, 2.3rpg, 5.3apg. Big man Jarrett Allen fresh off a 5 year extension has done the opposite of what is the norm in the league where he came back better after getting paid. Allen is currently averaging 12.3ppg, 17.5rpg, 3 blocks on 65% from the field. 




Cleveland 87 @ Utah 70

A scrappy game and being the opener the shooting rust showed with many players struggling to shoot and with the game being played in Salt Lake City saw the home team get easy whistles. It seemed any time Utah entered the paint a foul was being called. Nevertheless Cleveland pulled away in the 2nd half bombing away from the 3pt line. Jarrett Allen was the POTG bullying the smaller center Blake Griffin and finished with 7 points, 16 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Orlando 85 @ Cleveland 102

Cleveland was worried about this game, in predictions they had this one down as going either way. We knew we'd be stronger inside and that we had a great system in place, also playing against the dwarf ice Trae that Bogey would dominate him with a big height advantage. Bogdan finished with 20 points and 7 assists but once again Jarrett Allen was the star of the show with a POTG performance finishing with 23 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks on 75% from the field. 

Cleveland 91 @ Boston 73

We had this one down as a W but that wasn't due to overconfidence or lack of talent in Boston. Boston has a massive amount of talent on the roster but they just don't seem to mesh well and Tatum sits a lot because of it, he just does not want to play long stints out there with his team mates. We have a very strong inside presence as does Boston but Allen got the better of Steven Adams with Allen finishing with 11 points, 20 rebounds, 2 blocks but this game was Bogdan's time to shine. Bogdan put up a POTG performance with 30 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. 

Milwaukee 94 - Cleveland 101

This game with Badwolf at the helm we had down as a W, but with new GM Dazman we knew we were going to be in for a fight. It was a tough fought game for the 1st half with Cleveland holding onto a slim lead at the half. The 2nd half of the 3rd quarter was where Cleveland really opened it up with Fournier bombing 3s and pushing the lead out to 18 at the end of the 3rd to start the 4th we scored 1st putting the lead out to 20 but that was when the momentum swung. Milwaukee came back hard at us hitting deep contested 3s, finishing tough contested layups and getting whatever they wanted. Where for Cleveland we were missing wide open 3s, missing free throws and had fallen asleep on defense with Bucks players constantly blowing by our defenders. Fournier was clutch to end the game where he hit a 3 finally to put us back up by 6 and it was then down to the free throw game. Evan Fournier was POTG finishing with 31 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists and helped Cleveland hold on for the W and finishing the undefeated week. 

With week 1 in the books we look ahead to week 2 with tough outings with matchups against Chicago, Indiana, Orlando, Boston. Currently we are leading the league in 3 point attempts and Bogey and Evan are 3rd and 4th in 3 point field goals made in the league and if more of these wide open looks start going down we should hopefully fair well against the dominant inside teams we are about to face.

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