Veteran Canadian setting the tone
Tristan Thompson gleefully bounded around the Cleveland dressing room, his teammates enthusiastically showering him with buckets of water. The Canadian centre had just scored a career-high 35 points as the Cavaliers, desperate for any shred of good news, fought to a 115-112 overtime win at Detroit.
Thompson’s performance last Thursday, which included 14 rebounds, three assists, a steal and three blocks, helped lead the lowly Cavaliers to their 11th win of the season. While that hardly seems like a cause for a lockerroom blowout, it came at a time the Cavs had more to worry about than simply their lowly place in the Eastern Conference standings.
It was Cleveland’s first game since coach John Beilein apologized for an intended compliment that landed way off the mark during a film session, when he reportedly said his team was no longer playing like “a bunch of thugs” (he claims he meant to say slugs). It also came on the heels of veteran Kevin Love admitting he had acted “like a 13-year-old” by publicly venting his frustrations.
Rather than come out flat, deflated by the offcourt night, the Cavaliers looked inspired against the Pistons behind key performances by Love, who scored the winning three-pointer, and especially Thompson. The Brampton, Ont., centre’s big night not only helped end a five-game losing streak for the Cavaliers, but it highlighted his reputation as a leader.
“We motivate each other, at the end of the day — especially myself and Kev,” said Thompson, who is having perhaps his finest NBA season even as the Cavs struggle. “It’s on us to motivate our teammates.”
Thompson, whose previous career-high for points in a game was 29 in 2012-13, his second season in the league, has been leading by example by doing more offensively for the talent-poor Cavs this season.
Heading into a game Tuesday night at the Los Angeles Clippers, Thompson was averaging 13.1 points a game, a career high and well above his career average of 9.4.
While most of his scoring still comes around the basket, he has developed a reliable hook shot over the last two seasons to give him more offensive versatility. And while he will never be mistaken for Steph Curry, he has even connected on three of his modest eight three-point attempts this season. He had gone 0-for-9 from long range over his first eight campaigns.
The offensive output has come without giving up anything on the glass. He is averaging a career-high 10.6 rebounds per game, including an impressive 4.2 offensive rebounds per contest. Thompson’s 159 total offensive rebounds this season are behind only Detroit’s Andre Drummond (172).
Thompson, 28, is in the last year of his fiveyear, US$82-million contract and will become an unrestricted free agent after the season, meaning his days in Cleveland could very well be numbered. There is a chance he lands on a contender looking for playoff experience rebounding and interior scoring, and failing that he may try to find a landing place with a more competitive club after the season.
Thompson was drafted fourth overall out of Texas in 2011 — the same year the Cavaliers took guard Kyrie Irving first overall — to help a rebuilding Cavaliers team that finished a league-worst 19-63 the previous season.
The team continued to struggle until LeBron James returned to the Cavaliers in 2014 and led the Cavaliers to four straight NBA Finals against Golden State, including a title in 2016.
The Cavaliers fell back to earth after James led for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018, finishing with 19 wins last season and on pace to be among the league’s doormats this year. The Cavaliers (12-28) were ahead of only New York and Atlanta in the East entering Tuesday’s game.
Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continued his star-making sophomore season with his first career triple-double, putting up 20 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in the Thunder’s 117-104 win over Minnesota on Monday. The guard from Hamilton, Ont., is the second Canadian to record a triple-double (Steve Nash did it three times), and joins Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley and Oscar Robertson as the only players to record a 20-20 triple double in their second season.
20-20 VISION —
Dallas centre Dwight Powell is shooting a career-high .621 from the floor this season, and he has been particularly efficient over his past five games. The Toronto native has been good on 27 of his last 35 attempts (77.1 per cent) over that span.
Forward Dillon Brooks from Mississauga, Ont., averaged 18.1 points a game in the Memphis Grizzlies’ recent run of six wins over seven games heading into Tuesday.
Minnesota forward Andrew Wiggins has seen his scoring fall off since his return from a four-game absence with an illness. Wiggins, from Vaughan, Ont., has reached the 20-point mark just once in his last five games, after hitting that mark on 20 of his previous 26 outings.
MR. EFFICIENT — WHO’S HOT — WHO’S NOT —
Rookie guard RJ Barrett of Mississauga had 23 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals in the New York Knicks’ 124-121 upset of Miami on Sunday . ... Raptors forward Oshae Brissett, from Mississauga, scored in double figures for the first time in his career when he dropped 12 in Toronto’s 101-99 loss to Portland on Jan. 7 . ... Denver guard Jamal Murray of Kitchener, Ont., had 24 points, five rebounds and three steals in the Nuggets’ 111-103 loss to Cleveland on Saturday.
AROUND THE RIM —