Jaylon Tyson called out his Cavaliers teammates, then backed up his words with the best all-around performance of his professional career Monday in Cleveland’s 135-119 road win over the Indiana Pacers.
Cleveland returns home on Wednesday to oppose the Portland Trail Blazers, hoping to build off its first victory in more than a week. The Cavaliers had lost three straight before prevailing in Indianapolis behind 43 points from Donovan Mitchell.
“Honestly, this is what we should be doing, it’s nothing to celebrate,” said Mitchell, who leads the league with 81 3-pointers and is tied for fourth with a 30.6 scoring average. “We should be doing this all the time. These past few games have been a disappointment.”
Tyson had enough after the Cavaliers’ 117-115 home loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday, saying, “I think we’re in cruise control. As a team, we’re not hungry enough. It’s a common theme.”
Less than 24 hours later, the second-year pro erupted for a season-high 27 points on 10-of-13 field-goal shooting, grabbed a career-high-tying 11 rebounds and dished out four assists in 31 minutes against the Pacers.
“I don’t think there’s been a night when he’s lacked effort and energy, so to see him take the steps and hold himself accountable, that’s big-time,” Mitchell said. “He led us, just being who he is. He’s just a special, special talent.”
Tyson is averaging 12.4 points, and shooting 51% from the field and 48.1% from 3-point range while making starts at both forward spots and shooting guard.
With center Jarrett Allen (right third finger strain) and sharpshooter Sam Merrill (right hand sprain) out for at least another week, coach Kenny Atkinson is counting on Tyson to keep it up.
“It’s a juice league, man, no doubt,” Atkinson said. “The first thing that comes to mind is our young guys and how well they’re playing.”
Portland began a five-game road trip on Tuesday with a 121-118 loss to the Toronto Raptors. The Trail Blazers, down by 16 points in the third quarter, pulled within two points with two seconds left on a Jerami Grant 3-pointer before Toronto’s Brandon Ingram made one free throw.
Portland’s Deni Avdija rebounded Ingram’s missed second foul shot, but time expired before he could attempt an 85-foot heave. The burgeoning star finished with 25 points, eight boards and a career-high 14 assists — his fifth 25-5-10 game of the season.
It was a continuation of a tremendous stretch for Avdija, who averaged 27.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 6.4 assists over 14 games in November.
“Deni is a great player,” Trail Blazers power forward Toumani Camara said. “He’s been doing a great job. He’s doing what he’s doing.”
Donovan Clingan had 11 points and 11 rebounds in Toronto after missing a game with an illness, while Shaedon Sharpe scored 23 points off the bench.
The Trail Blazers got off to a 4-2 start this season, but they backslid over the past month while meandering along without guards Damian Lillard (left Achilles tear), Jrue Holiday (right calf strain) and Scoot Henderson (left hamstring tear).
Portland has lost three in a row and eight of its past 10.
“We’ve got to get better. I know this is a young group, but there is a lot of things to get better,” Trail Blazers interim coach Tiago Splitter said. “And the commitment to play 48 minutes has to get better.
“In order to win games, we’ve got to compete for 48 minutes. I can’t sugarcoat this.”
The Cavaliers swept the teams’ two-game series last season, averaging 127.5 points. Avdija posted 30 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in Portland’s 133-129 overtime loss at Cleveland on March 2.
