James Harden was the talk of the town before he made his Cleveland Cavaliers debut against the Sacramento Kings. Alongside Donovan Mitchell, the 36-year-old was as advertised, detonating in the fourth quarter to help guide his new team to a 132-126 victory on Saturday. But, for as stellar as that was, despite a desire for a fresh start, Keon Ellis and Dennis Schroder were the ones circling that revenge game on the calendar a week ago after the Kings traded them to the Cavs.
By the end of the night, they got what they wanted. That goes especially for Ellis, who closed the night at the 4 for Cleveland next to Harden, Mitchell, Sam Merrill, and Jarrett Allen on his old stomping grounds at the Golden 1 Center.
“I thought he made some huge defensive plays for us,” said Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson, singling out the team's new swingman postgame. “That's why he finished the game. We needed him out there.”
Ellis produced 6 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and a block as a plus-20 in 17 minutes of play, showcasing a little bit of everything. A deflection machine, he gave his assignments no room to breathe, sticking to them away from the ball and making anybody who dared pass it in that direction pay. Ellis got Russell Westbrook twice, once on a pocket pass with little separation and another time stationed between the paint and the corner.
Soon after, he seamlessly switched onto Westbrook from Nique Clifford after a screen, hid far back enough so that Sacramento rookie center Maxime Raynaud would try to get it to a ball-handler, then came away with it in the open floor. All three of Ellis' steals happened in the fourth quarter, and the last two takeaways were within 30 seconds of each other.
On Ellis' final swipe, he dribble drove up the right side of the floor with Raynaud and Clifford defending. He waited long enough for Harden to get to his spot above the break, and the Beard took care of the rest. That sequence gave the Cavs a 108-107 lead, showing how timely it was. Ellis was responsible for two Harden catch-and-shoot chances, and both were true.
As a spot-up shooter, Ellis drilled his first two looks. Mitchell found him on the left wing, and Schroder swung it to him on the right off a Mitchell drive-and-kick. The next two tries were solid as well, despite the front-iron miss results.
“Obviously, the gravity threat, but he showed some real pop, some real athleticism,” Atkinson. “I can't wait… that's a good sign. I don't know the player intimately, so great to see him show out tonight.”
Schroder, who came over to the Cavs with him, has also impressed in his first two games. On Saturday, he was part of second-unit lineups with Ellis, Thomas Bryant, Craig Porter Jr., and Nae'Qwan Tomlin that largely outplayed the starters.
“All of them,” Atkinson said. “They had their energy. First group, energy was just okay, and those guys came in. Dennis, obviously a part of that. That did feel like that switched the game when we started the game out not with full energy.”
“Shout out to JA for continuing to hold it down throughout, the bench unit continuing to do that,” Mitchell added. “But all in all, we're gonna figure things out. We saw a lot late-game that we can kinda play with and go from there, but any win's a good win at this point; we need 'em all. But we just know in the back of our heads, like, ‘Okay, really have no time to work on nothing.' We were just out there playing. Not bad, and we'll get better.”
Schroder finished the evening with 7 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds, and no turnovers in his 17 minutes. Cleveland's downhill rim pressure has been so much more threatening since his arrival, and Schroder has put his 0-to-100 burst on display on multiple occasions already. He is highly skilled at zooming by with a quick cross, shielding the ball on his drives, and scooping the ball off the backboard against bigger defenders.
It's not about the numbers with the veteran point guard, though; it's about the attitude he comes in with.
“He started waving me off after like three plays. That's when I know it was good,” Atkinson said pregame Saturday. “And he was talking to Donovan, ‘Hey, let's run wide.' I was like, ‘Can I say something here?' That's the way you want it.
“I went to talk to [Cavs assistant] Mike Gerrity, I was like, ‘I'm just sitting down.' They're already communicating. We've got very few actions and principles, so it's not like we're running intricate sets.”
The same goes for Ellis.
“I'd say Dennis and Keon, my thing was like, ‘We're not gonna talk about your role yet. Go out and be yourselves. That's it,'” Atkinson said. “That's what I expected of them the other night. Luckily, we got some practice time with those guys; you can talk a little more, where we want to see 'em.”
