The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Miami Heat 126-106 in Miami on Wednesday night. It was another strong win for the Cavs, who moved to 38-9 on the year and won their second straight after a weird three-game losing streak.
Cavs star Darius Garland did not play on Wednesday night due to rest as the Cavs were on the first night of a back-to-back. In turn, the Cavs started Jaylon Tyson, the rookie from Cal who was selected No. 20 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft.
Tyson played well, scoring four points with five rebounds and four assists in a balanced effort. While he didn’t light up the stat sheet offensively, he did a lot of little things in his second career start.
After the game, Cavs star Donovan Mitchell spoke highly of Tyson’s performance, per RealCavsFan.
“Not many guys that score 20 in college want to come and don’t want the ball, want to do the little things,” Mitchell said about Tyson. “To have that mindset, coming into camp let alone into these games, is huge.”
Tyson bounced around a lot in college, spending one year at Texas and then Texas Tech before playing his final season at Cal. Tyson started all 31 games for Texas Tech in 2022-23, averaging 10.7 PPG. In his final college season, he averaged 19.6 PPG with 6.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists for Cal.
However, Mitchell was impressed with Tyson’s ability to do the “little things” in just his second career start.
Until recently, Tyson had played sparingly for the Cavs. Across 24 games, he had played 10 or more minutes just four times before January 16. Since then, he has logged 10 or more minutes five times, including his start on Wednesday.
The other time Tyson started was on November 20 against the New Orleans Pelicans, and he scored 16 points on 7-of-12 from the field with 11 rebounds and seven assists in a strong outing.
If the rookie continues to play like this, it will be hard for the Cavs not to give him more minutes over the next few months.
