Cup of Cavs: Cleveland Cavaliers News and Links for Thursday, October 27

The Cleveland Cavaliers were able to pull out a 103-92 win over the Orlando Magic last night.

The first sip

The 4-1 Utah Jazz and Lauri Markkanen have been one of the biggest surprises of the entire league this season. Through his first four games, Markkanen is averaging 21.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3 assists on .451/.241/.833 shooting splits.

He had another fantastic game last night against the Houston Rockets where he contributed 24 points on 10 of 15 shooting with 9 boards while providing some highlight level dunks like this one.

And this one.

And also this one.

The Cavs absolutely made the right move in trading for Donovan Mitchell. There hasn’t been any second thoughts. But, part of you can’t help to wonder what things would’ve been like in Cleveland if Lauri would’ve been given more of an opportunity to showcase his skills with more shooting and playmaking around him. Also, playing with a big who can shoot in Kelly Olynyk certainly helps things in a way that wasn’t possible with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

Nevertheless, it’s fun to see Finnish national team Lauri unleashed on the league. Hopefully he and the Jazz continue their impressive play as its been fun to watch from a distance.

The second sip

I’m not sure what I expected, but I was hoping that Darius Garland’s eye would look a lot better a week after the injury. Hopefully he can return by Friday’s game against the Boston Celtics, but I can’t see how that’s possible given how it currently looks.

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Links of the day

NBA future power rankings: Cavs at 12 (not sure I understand the formula)

How Chicago cooked Boston with their size

The open looks have disappeared for the Mavericks

For LeBron James’ Lakers, there’s no Hollywood ending in sight for this horror show