Player Grades

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Washington Wizards player grades

Love and James bring the Cavaliers home on a back-to-back.

By Akash Anavarathan@akashanav Dec 18, 2017, 8:37am CST

NBA: Cleveland Cavaliers at Washington Wizards

Here are the player grades for the Cleveland Cavaliers win over the Washington Wizards:

Kevin Love: A+

Love didn’t have his legs on the second night of a back-to-back, but he was one of the few Cavaliers hitting shots tonight. Cleveland needed every bit of his 25-point, nine-rebound performance to win.

LeBron James: A-

James didn’t have as efficient of a game as he would have liked, but his effort in the second half was contagious. Back-to-back-to-back triple-doubles for the King, filling the box score with 20 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds tonight.

Jeff Green: B+

Green deserves a B+ just for touchdown catch and dunk in the second half. But every single one of his 15 points were needed in Washington.

Kyle Korver: B

Fourth Korver had more two-point field goals than three-point field goals. How many times does that happen? But his play off the bench tonight was needed, especially with Dwyane Wade taking the night off.

Jae Crowder: B-

Crowder probably deserves more minutes in the rotation, with his solid effort on defense and off-ball movement on offense.

Cedi Osman: B-

Osman finding valuable rotation minutes in December comes as a surprise to most Cavaliers’ fans. His constant hustle on both ends of the floor is starting to become contagious.

Jose Calderon: C+

The Cavaliers’ starting point guard was somewhat effective in his limited action on the floor tonight, adding seven points and four rebounds.

Tristan Thompson: C

Thompson had four points on two shots, but didn’t have anything else on the box score. The Cavaliers will continue to get out-rebounded if their center can’t be a difference maker on the glass.

Channing Frye: D

It’s almost inexcusable for Frye to play nine minutes and not end up with a single rebound as the big man on the floor.

J.R. Smith: D+

Two straight D+’s for Smith. I still don’t understand how he’s finding the floor in the fourth quarter. While he managed to get nine rebounds, Smith had a poor shooting night from deep (1-of-7).