On Tuesday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers opened up their exhibition season with a contest against the Chicago Bulls. While these games are usually as close to meaningless as possible, teams always want to start the season off as well as possible — with a victory. Alas, Thomas Bryant, one of the Cavs’ offseason acquisitions, could not have had a worse final few seconds than he did as he couldn’t score the winning basket in what ended up being a 118-117 loss to their division rival.
With the Cavs down by one, they got a defensive stop with around five seconds remaining in the game. Bryant then pushed the ball in semi-transition, only for his game-winning attempt to be stuffed at the rim by Bulls forward Dalen Terry.
It looked like time had expired, but the referees reviewed the footage and brought back a few seconds on the game clock. The Cavs then proceeded to draw up an excellent play with less than a second remaining, freeing up Bryant on a lob play. But the pass was a bit behind Bryant and he couldn’t get the shot off in one motion — leading to another blocked shot from the Bulls, this time from Jalen Smith.
Bryant’s frustrations were filling up to the brim so much to the point that he slapped the broadcast camera as a display of his emotions.
Bryant definitely has had better days than this one.
Cavs start preseason off 0-1 after close loss vs. Bulls
Four of the Cavs’ five projected starters for next year suited up on Tuesday, with Darius Garland being the only one out as he continues to recover from offseason toe surgery. The team’s starters on the night (with Jaylon Tyson in Garland’s place) played 18 minutes, with De’Andre Hunter leading the team in scoring with 17 points.
Craig Porter Jr. made his case to start in Garland’s place, as he tallied 17 points of his own in 18 minutes off the bench. There might be some matchups where head coach Kenny Atkinson would prefer to start Porter over Tyson (with Garland out) for more ballhandling and playmaking, but Tyson could be the favorite to start if Garland’s not yet healthy to start the regular season due to his 3-and-D contributions.
As for Bryant, he finished the game with six points, two rebounds, and two assists. He’s slated to be the team’s third-string center, behind Jarrett Allen and Larry Nance Jr. (with Evan Mobley needing minutes at the five as well).
