The Cleveland Cavaliers have gotten off to a terrible start of the season, falling to 1 and 10 to have the worst record in the league, something that may tell you the kind of impact LeBron James had on that team.
The team has already fired Ty Lue and Kevin Love is sidelined with an injury, so they’re pretty much a lock to be the worst team in all basketball this year unless some miracle turnaround happens any time soon.
On the other hand, the Duke Blue Devils have taken the world for the storm, led by the most hyped young men in the world since LeBron James: Standout power forward Zion Williamson, who’s gotten praise from all over the world.
Moreover, the Blue Devils have been labeled as the Golden State Warriors of NCAA, featuring 3 projected top 5 picks in Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cameron Reddish. So, obviously, overhyped fans actually think this team could compete in the NBA following their humiliating victory over the Wildcats in opening day. So, let’s break this down, could the Blue Devils beat the Cleveland Cavaliers?
Duke Blue Devils
This Blue Devils squad features a lot of balance. On one side, we’ve got Tyus Jones’ little brother, Tre, who’s not as prolific as Tyus used to be as a scorer but he’s a born leader with a very high basketball IQ.
RJ Barrett and Cameron Reddish are already a consensus top 5 picks in this upcoming Draft, a couple of explosive scorers that can create their own shot and even run the point at times if needed.
Marques Bolden is their main guy down low, an old-fashioned center that doesn’t have much of a face-up game and that spends most of his time as a roll man and setting picks, while there’s no need to talk about Zion Williamson anymore, as he’s been heavily scouted as one of the most explosive athletes we’ve seen in years.
Cleveland Cavaliers
I will use the starting lineup with George Hill and Rodney Hood, so JR Smith and Collin Sexton will come off the bench.
Kevin Love is injured right now, but in this case, we will use him like he is 100% healthy.
The Cavs are a major disaster but at least Collin Sexton has already shown glimpses of greatness with his aggressiveness as a driver and his crafty passing, and he should only get better as the season progresses.
Rodney Hood and JR Smith create a very unpredictable combo of streaky scorers that can get hot as fast as they get ice cold, and that could put a lot of work on the defensive end of the floor or just flat out let their rivals get wide open layups.
Cedi Osman is still quite raw but he’s a very hard working young man that has been getting more comfortable as the team’s primary scorer as days go by, while Tristan Thompson doesn’t offer much other from his offensive rebounding.
Kevin Love is the best player and he would destroy the Duke Blue Devils with three-pointers and probably over 15 rebounds.
Game Review
Everybody’s rooting for the Blue Devils here. The crowd goes crazy everytime Williamson has the rock on his hands and RJ Barrett is just knocking down pull up three after pull up three. Devils up 22-17 after one.
The second quarter starts with JR Smith just blatantly chugging contested three-pointers but goes 4/4 from the field to force a timeout, the Cavs are up 5 early and don’t show any mercy against the young fellas. Cleveland leads 54-46 at the half.
The third quarter is underway and Cameron Reddish starts drawing contact and going to the line time after time, while Williamson is able to come back after struggling with foul trouble early on. The young studs combine for 22 points in the third and we’re all tied as we head to the fourth.
This one’s coming down to the wire. The Blue Devils have nothing to lose and are quite inspired, while the fear of losing against college kids makes the Cavaliers look sloppier than usual.
Williamson is just feasting and bully-balling his way to the paint, completely torching Osman and Thompson down low and putting them in posters with his emphatic dunks. Collin Sexton decides is time to take matters into his own hands.
Kevin Love is unstoppable and he has 27 points and 20 rebounds.
Sexton goes on a 10-0 run and the Cavs trail by one as Tristan Thompson heads to the line. Misses the first, the crowd goes crazy. Misses the second, the ball goes to the hands of… JR Smith, with 4 seconds left, he starts dribbling as he’s not aware of the scoreboard, Sexton yells at him as LeBron did in the Finals as he pulls up from halfcourt: Money, Cavs win it 106-104, but hey, the Blue Devils put on a hell of a fight.
