Cleveland Cavaliers shooting guard Caris LeVert was not going to let the haters win in Game 2. Following a letdown performance by the Cavs bench in Game 1’s loss to the Boston Celtics, LeVert took it upon himself to lead Cleveland’s backups in Game 2. On Thursday, the former Michigan Wolverines star stepped up and torched the Celtics for 21 points on 9/17 shooting from the floor and 3/4 from the free throw line.
“Yeah we heard all the last couple of days that Donovan didn’t have no help…so we wanted to show up for him & for our team & we’ll keep doing that,” LeVert said when interviewed after the contest.
Back in Game 1, Cleveland coaxed just 15 points from its bench, with LeVert scoring just four points. In Game 2, the Cavs got 30 points from their second unit, of course, mostly coming from LeVert. Donovan Mitchell has been carrying most of the load for the Cavaliers’ offense but LeVert and the rest of the players on the team can’t just let their superstar do all the work for them. Mitchell is scoring an average of nearly 30 points per game in the postseason, while Allen, who is still sidelined, is second on the team with 17.0 points per outing.
LeVert will continue to play an integral role for the Cavs, who need all hands on deck if they are to pull off a stunning second-round series upset over the high-powered Celtics, who will be looking for revenge in Game 3 on Saturday.
So far in the playoffs, LeVert is averaging just 8.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 40.3 percent from the field.
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