The Cavaliers need Larry Nance and Jordan Clarkson

On a short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers team, Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance might need to end up becoming key contributors.

Amid a rough Game 5 that saw the Cleveland Cavaliers lose by 13 and fall to one game from elimination, one of the few bright spots came about mid-way through the second quarter. Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance, two players who entered the game scoring less than 10 combined points per game in the postseason, gave the Cavs a spark.

Two bench players giving a team a spark should not be a story in itself, but these Cavaliers have been starving for anybody aside from LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Kyle Korver to be consistently impactful. It started with a Korver miss that Nance rebounded and dished back out to Korver, who canned the 3-pointer on his second attempt. Nance then got another offensive rebound, and this time put it back in himself.

He followed that up with a Jaylen Brown block, and, soon after, an assist on a Clarkson triple. Clarkson hit another trey, this one on an assist from LeBron, to end the magical run. The Cavaliers were down eight at that point, and they went on to win the second quarter, 23-21.

Clarkson and Nance are by no means perfect players. Nance, like Tristan Thompson, will sometimes simply vanish. Clarkson has the opposite problem. It took him 10 shots to get his eight points on Wednesday.

Ty Lue needs more than the virtual nothing he’s gotten from that pair. Rodney Hood is out of the rotation entirely. J.R. Smith and George Hill have been mostly nonfactors, which is not a great thing to say about a team’s starting backcourt.

The Los Angeles Lakers got a first round pick from Cleveland in exchange for Clarkson and Randle, as well as Isaiah Thomas and Channing Frye. That cost is sunk now, but clearly the Cavs were looking to find some real players since that first round pick was given up.

Nance is a useful rim-runner and freak athlete who could, ideally, step up when Thompson has a dud like he did on Wednesday (0-of-3 from the floor, one whole point). Clarkson is a dynamo who is not overly efficient or a good defender, but having that instant offense that Smith used to offer would change things for Cleveland.

Both players showed flashes of their potential in Game 5. Clarkson hitting back-to-back 3s was huge, and if he hadn’t cooled off so rapidly after the game could have been a lot more interesting. Nance posted just two points, but he also added six rebounds, two assists and four blocks in 17 minutes. Aside from pure production, Clarkson and Nance just seemed to breathe some life into the Cavs.

As stated earlier, neither Clarkson nor Nance is perfect. Honestly, Clarkson and Nance sounds more like a courtroom procedural than a combination of bench cogs. Lue will need to search out ways to minimize their weaknesses and emphasize their strengths, though, as he just does not have many other options.

Benches shorten in the postseason, but with J.R. playing the way he is Cleveland essentially has just four starters anyway. Having a real option to go with over Smith when a game, or a series, is on the line is necessary at this point if the Cavs are to go farther in the postseason.

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Thompson is always going to get minutes because of his defense on Al Horford, but another usable big would help, especially one that can put up more than one point, six rebounds and one assist in 26 minutes.

In a big picture sense, without Kyrie Irving on the roster anymore each and every Cavalier needs to do more. As scary as the proposition is, that means Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance could end up helping to decide the series, either for better or for worse.