{"id":508777,"date":"2026-01-01T01:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T01:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/508777\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T01:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T01:00:26","slug":"player-grades-cavs-vs-suns-evan-mobley-anchors-the-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/508777\/","title":{"rendered":"Player Grades: Cavs vs Suns – Evan Mobley anchors the defense"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> ended 2025 with a win over the Phoenix Suns. We have some optimism going into the New Year.<\/p>\n

All grades are based on our usual expectations for each player.<\/p>\n

34 points, 7 assists, 10 rebounds<\/p>\n

Mitchell\u2019s first-half scoring was key in building a 20-point lead for Cleveland. It turns out they would need it, as this Suns team never gave up. Mitchell\u2019s control of the offense helped the Cavs secure this win.<\/p>\n

19 points, 6 assists, 1 rebound<\/p>\n

Garland might be officially back. He\u2019s moved like his old self for the last few weeks and is quarterbacking the Cavalier offense to perfection. Every time he\u2019s on the court, it feels like the Cavs are humming. It\u2019s nice to have him back.<\/p>\n

Support us and rep Evan Mobley with Homage!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve partnered with Homage to help provide Cavs fans with the best gear. Anything bought from the links below helps support Fear the Sword while also allowing you to rep the Cavs. You can also shop all Homage Cavs gear HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can grab the Mobley shirt seen above HERE<\/a>.The Mobley trading card shirt can be bought HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

16 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 blocks<\/p>\n

Mobley\u2019s been flexing his defensive muscles over his last two games. He had 3 blocks against San Antonio and added 5 more tonight. Having the Defensive Player of the Year ramping back up is a blessing for this team that had previously been faltering defensively.<\/p>\n

16 points, 1 assist, 1 rebound<\/p>\n

As the Cavs find their groove, so does Merrill. He fits like a glove into Kenny Atkinson\u2019s motion offense, and he nailed 4 three-pointers against the Suns.<\/p>\n

16 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s been much more active this week. He\u2019s screening and rolling with intention, either finishing plays at the rim or dishing the ball and creating advantages.<\/p>\n

18 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds<\/p>\n

Tyson does not lack confidence. This \u2018Marty Supreme\u2019 level of belief in himself has allowed Tyson to be a monumental contributor in his first real season of playing real NBA minutes.<\/p>\n

5 points, 2 assists, 5 rebounds<\/p>\n

Wade has looked like himself as of late. He\u2019s a borderline elite defender when paired with Cleveland\u2019s two bigs, and he\u2019s been a positive contributor on offense.<\/p>\n

2 points, 3 assists, 9 rebounds<\/p>\n

Porter took Lonzo Ball\u2019s place in the rotation last game, and it doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019s going back any time soon. CPJ hit a nasty spin move into a drop-off dime to Jarrett Allen that embodies everything he brings to this team as a backup point guard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Cavaliers ended 2025 with a win over the Phoenix Suns. We have some optimism going into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,306,1236,7814,305,193,3846,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-508777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-cavaliers","10":"tag-cavs-analysis","11":"tag-cavs-player-grades","12":"tag-cleveland","13":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","14":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","15":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115817141465584877","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}