Cup of Cavs: Cleveland Cavaliers news and links for Friday, January 21

Friday is back! No Cavs last night, no Cavs tonight, so hopefully this morning’s Cup of Cavs will hold you over until tomorrow night.

The first sip

Came across this tweet following Wednesday night’s loss to the Bulls in Chicago:

Here’s the thing: It’s fine if this is true! The Cavs were playing a road game against one of the best teams in the league, and they aren’t far removed from a sadistically busy road trip either. The Cavs might not be able to keep pace with the truly elite teams in the NBA, but they were never supposed to be this good this soon in the first place.

Outside of Kevin Love, Lauri Markkanen and Jarrett Allen are the vets of the group—and they’re 23 and 24 years old! Darius Garland is the only real playmaker the Cavs have left, and he’s shouldered that burden as well as anyone could ask of a 21-year-old. This team has already surpassed any and all expectations anyone had for them prior to the season. A January loss to the top seed in the East is nothing to fret about long-term.

Read this

Two Cavs in Dan Devine’s second-quarter awards!

Links of the day

Where it went wrong for my beloved Pitt men’s basketball program

The Knicks’ comedown after last season’s breakout

Some nice, healthy Collin Sexton discourse for your reading pleasure