As the Cleveland Cavaliers hosted the Washington Wizards Thursday, all eyes were on Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen and James Harden to make sure Cleveland won in Harden’s home debut.
Instead, it was Sam Merrill who shined and lifted the Cavaliers to a 138-113 win. He managed to score a game-high 32 points in the win.
After the game, Mitchell had the perfect answer when asked about Merrill’s big performance.
“I’m going to shoutout Brad, and John, whoever was doing the broadcast. Before the game, Sam saw the keys to the game, ‘Get Sam cooking”. Sam was like, ‘Have I been that bad?’ So I guess he wanted to prove a point to the broadcast tonight.”
Donovan on Sam’s play tonight:
“I’m going to shoutout Brad, and John, whoever was doing the broadcast. Before the game, Sam saw the keys to the game, ‘Get Sam cooking”. Sam was like, ‘Have I been that bad?’ So I guess he wanted to prove a point to the broadcast tonight.”
— RealCavsFans.com (@realcavsfans) February 12, 2026
Merrill was lights out all game long. He made 9/10 threes, and shot 11/12 overall. This includes a perfect 7/7 on 3’s in the first half. He also made his only free throw attempt.
Merrill’s slump
While Merrill hasn’t been “that bad” all season long, he has certainly been on a cold streak recently.
After missing six games with an injury, Merrill has been quiet since his return. Despite a 22-point night against the Portland Trail Blazers, Merrill hadn’t been over 15 points in a game since January 10.
He did have nights of 10 and 11 points, but he’s also had nights of 2 and 4 since coming back from injury. His three point percentage has over 40% still, but his volume has decreased over the past few games.
This was a great game for Merrill to prove he needs to continue being either a starter on the team, or one of the first people off the bench. His three point shooting is the best on the team and is valuable to Cleveland in big games.
When he is able to be hot and hit even just open shots, Cleveland’s offense becomes a lot more dynamic. When he’s cold, the Cavaliers have a tendency of other players forcing bad threes up to try and make up for the loss of production.
That tendency has gotten Cleveland into trouble plenty of times, and if Merrill stays hot, the Cavs can avoid those situations.
With the additions of Harden, Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder, it’s easy to forget what Merrill brings to this team. He is not a player to overlook as the Cavaliers figure out what their new rotation will look for the rest of the season.
Even once Evan Mobley comes back and knocks Merrill to the bench, he’ll need to be playing 15-20 minutes per night, and may be a key piece to bring in for clutch moments.
It’s clear that the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to need to “Get Sam cooking” all season long if they are going to have a strong second half of the season, and hopefully a playoff run.