Cavaliers' Star Gets Ultimate Compliment After Dominant Effort vs. Kings

Evan Mobley has been compared to a handful of different players throughout his career. He's even been called a "unicorn." 

On Friday night, following a 29-point, 13-rebound effort, the 24-year-old drew one of the greatest of compliments from his own coach. 

"Man, he was like Shaquille [O'Neal] tonight," Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson said of his star forward. "I mean, seriously, the way he was, just rim, rim, rim. And then dominated the defensive side." 

Mobley's 29 points came on 13-24 shooting, good for 54% from the floor. He was 0-for-4 from three, but it didn't matter in the Cavs 123-118 win over the Sacramento Kings. His efforts, both scoring an elsewhere, were more than enough. 

The reigning Defensive Player of the Year added those 13 boards, eight assists (the potential was there for more of them) and a whopping four blocked shots. One of them – late in the fourth quarter with 3:34 to play may have landed in Westlake. 

It was as near an all-around game Mobley has played since arriving in Cleveland in 2021. 

"That was one of the most dominant performances I've seen from him, and we needed it," Atkinson added. "Dennis Schröder was all over Don[ovan Mitchell] and we weren't creating much elsewhere. He was creating. I think 10 potential assists too. He was dominant." 

Atkinson has asked a lot of Mobley throughout the season. Early on, there was a concerted effort to make him the focal point of the offense. He was asked to bring the ball up more and shoot more threes. Night-after-night, it looked like it was overwhelming the former No. 3 overall pick. 

So Atkinson scaled things back a bit. The goal became less about adding to Mobley's plate and more about maximizing what he does well, most notably, getting downhill and attacking the basket, especially off-ball. 

Mobley has also made a point in trying to get himself going early in games to really set the tone for himself and his teammates. That was the case again on Friday night when Mobley dropped 13 points in the first quarter. 

Now the question becomes, how does that become his nightly norm? 

"When he's doing that, we are a very, very good team," Cavaliers superstar Donovan Mitchell said of Mobley's night. "Honestly, a lot of it is going to be on him to, go! ... these things take time, especially when it's not your nature, and he's grown into that. 

"The last 10-15, whatever, he's been putting a lot of good performances together and I think tonight was the most complete. Now the challenge is let's do it again, and again, and again." 

Friday served as a blueprint for what that looks like. The rest is on Mobley to make that type of performance a regular thing. 

"I don't know about [Shaq], but I definitely felt dominant out there," Mobley said of his effort. "Just keep trusting the process. Keep putting in the hard work and keep attacking when I see the opportunities, every single time."