The Cleveland Cavaliers weren’t able to pull out a win in their first Summer League game against the Indiana Pacers on Friday, but there were plenty of good things to take away from the loss. Mainly, the strong play of Meleek Thomas and Nae’Qwan Tomlin.
Thomas, the 34th overall pick in this most recent draft, scored 20 points on 7-14 shooting. This included Thomas going 2-5 from deep. The scoring touch that the Cavs were talking about after the draft showed through in his first game.
Tomlin looked like an NBA player in Friday’s loss. That’s mostly all that you want to see from a player of his caliber in this environment.
Malaki Branham also performed well, putting up 15 points on 4-8 shooting in the loss. He’s a player to keep your eye on throughout Summer League and possibly the training camp process.
One player you would like to see a nice bounce back from is Tristan Enaruna. Enaruna is on a two-way contract with the Cavs and showed great strides as a shooter throughout the previous G League season with the Charge. That didn’t show through on Friday as he went 1-7 from the field and was limited to just six minutes of play. We’ll see if he can turn it around on Sunday.
Who: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Detroit Pistons
Where: Thomas & Mack Center – Las Vegas, NV
When: Sun., July 12 at 4 PM
TV: Prime Video
Point spread: Pistons -1.5
Cavs notable players: Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Meleek Thomas, Ernest Udeh Jr., Riley Minix, Tristan Enaruna, Malaki Branham
Pistons notable players: Ebuka Okorie, Ugonna Onyenso, Isaac Jones, Chaz Lanier
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