Travers appeared to be too good for this level as he poured in an easy 24 points.
The Cleveland Cavaliers two-way wing, Luke Travers, said last week that one of the adjustments to playing in the U.S. was dealing with not being one of the most athletic players on the court. That wasn’t an issue in his first G League game with the Cleveland Charge as evidenced by the team’s first three baskets in their blowout victory over the Indiana Mad Ants.
Travers scored the Charge’s first basket of the season by receiving a nice feed on the low block from Pete Nance. Then, he blew by his defender on the perimeter resulting in a shooting foul on the next possession. Travers followed that up by grabbing an offensive rebound and finding Jacob Gilyard for an open three.
Travers credits his sneaky athleticism for how he was able to put his imprint on the game so early.
“A lot of people use the word, ‘deceptively,’” Travers said about his athleticism. “It’s something I kind of surprised people about.”
Gilyard’s open three got him going. He closed the first quarter with eight points giving the Charge a 27-21 lead after one.
The Charge stretched the advantage in the second quarter spurred on by two early threes from Elijah Hughes. Travers closed the quarter with a bang which included a breakaway transition, tomahawk dunk giving the Charge a 60-43 lead at the break.
Travers feels like he’s at his best when he’s pushing in transition. It’s something his coaches want to see him continue to do.
“He’s such a great passer,” Charge head coach Chris Darnell said. “He has size. He can see over the defense, so if he can get it and start the break now the defense is cross-matched in transition, and he’s a good decision-maker as well.”
The Charge continued things in the second half. Nance found some offensive rhythm in the third quarter where he contributed eight points to help stretch the advantage to 26. Cleveland kept their foot on the gas as they pushed the lead to 40 in the fourth before settling for a 120-83 victory.
Travers was the unquestioned best player on the court on both sides of the ball. This is how he thought his time with the Charge would go.
“It’s kind of what I expected [after] having a little taste of it in the NBA,” Travers said. “Playing my game was a big goal of mine, so to be able to go out there and do that is a big positive, but still a lot of room for improvement.”
Turnovers and three-point shooting are two areas he’d like to improve. He only took three and passed up a few chances to take them while instead opting to put it on the floor to attack the basket. That was an understandable decision given how Indiana couldn’t stop him, but those are shots he’ll need to take at the next level.
Those critiques aside, you couldn’t ask for a much better showing. Travers finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and six assists.
Elijah Hughes had a strong showing off the bench. His three-point shooting allowed the Charge to keep pushing the lead as he went 5-10 from beyond the arc leading to 22 points. Repeat performances like this will turn heads.
“That’s kind of a role that we’re looking for on this team,” Darnell said. “[He’s] somebody that can come off of screens and create gravity behind the three-point line, and then when you start creating those closeouts, now, can you catch and go, can you attack downhill, and get to the paint? And with his size and his shooting ability, he’s able to do both of those things at a high level.”
Chandler Hutchison had a nice first professional game in two years. He only registered six points in 20 minutes, but that’s not bad considering the amount of time he was away. It’ll be interesting to watch how his game progresses throughout the season.
“He’s extremely aggressive, defensively, switching, communicating the coverages, stopping the ball,” Darnell said. “And I think he’ll continue to get his offensive rhythm.”
Debuts are difficult. Darnell wasn’t sure if his team was prepared enough for his first game as head coach.
“I was just telling Liron [Fanan, Charge general manager], in my head, I was like, what have we not covered? What do we need to go over? Like, I’m not comfortable, but you know that I think it’s natural as a coach.”
Darnell didn’t need to worry. He had his team prepared. Now, he just hopes they can carry that into tomorrow as well.
The Charge will take on the Mad Ants again on Sunday afternoon at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The tip-off is at 2 PM.