Evan Mobley had a career game on Saturday as he led the Cleveland Cavaliers to victory in the absence of Donovan Mitchell. Making his night even better, what he did against the Milwaukee Bucks is pretty historic.
Mobley exploded for a career-high 38 points on top of nine rebounds and three assists in the 114-102 Cavs win. He made 19-of-27 shots from deep, all while not scoring from the 3-point line or via free throws.
With that said, he became just the fourth player since 1979–when the 3-point line was adopted–to score at least 38 points without making a free throw or a triple. No modern NBA player have achieved the said feat, with the three other people doing it being Hakeem Olajuwon, Alex English and George Gervin. English actually did it twice in his career, per Tom Withers of AP.
Evan Mobley did attempt two triples in the game but missed. He also had one trip to the charity stripe, which led to a miss as well. He would have been disqualified for the record had he made one of those.
Still, it doesn’t erase the fact that Mobley can stay effective and impactful even without the popular ways of scoring the basket. It actually makes him scarier. He is currently shooting around 18 percent from deep and 69 percent from the 3-point line. Now imagine what he can achieve should he improve those areas and add them to his arsenal.
Indeed, the future is looking bright for Mobley and the Cavs.
