Cleveland Cavaliers center Timofey Mozgov struggled his way through the early part of the regular season, particularly on the offensive end of the floor, but he found his rhythm in a 111-76 win over the Orlando Magic Friday night.
After working himself into game shape early in the season because knee surgery in the summer delayed his conditioning and training, Mozgov converted eight of his nine attempts, scored 17 points, corralled four rebounds and handed out an assist in the lopsided win for the Cavaliers (15-7).
"I just really liked Timo's aggressiveness," Cavaliers coach David Blatt said. "I really like the fact that he has pushed through what was not the easiest of beginnings of the season. He's continued to work hard. We expected this.
"I think I told you all this at the beginning of the year, he didn't come to camp in great shape because he couldn't work this summer due to the knee surgery, and it's taken him a while to get back, but we're seeing the light with Timo. He's starting to come around, and when he plays like that, it's a big, big thing for our team."
Mozgov got going early against the Magic when he grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed three-point shot from guard Jared Cunningham, cycled the ball out to the perimeter, called for a pass in the post and threw down a dunk.
Then, after point guard Matthew Dellavedova, Mozgov staked the Cavaliers out to an eight-point advantage when he converted a layup. He later pushed the lead out to 10 when he caught a lob pass from power forward Kevin Love and put in another layup.
"Calling for the ball, confidence, hitting guys on pick and rolls, defensively, just contesting shots, us not putting him in a vulnerable position," Love said. "I think all around, we were working together in a very good way."
Small forward LeBron James added, "He was aggressive, offensively and defensively, and it was great to see him back to himself, catching lobs, blocking shots, being aggressive and we needed that from him. I know he's very excited about the way he played, and he should be."
Prior to Friday's game, Mozgov, who battled through a shoulder injury that took him out of the lineup for nearly two weeks, had not scored in double figures since November 17, and only achieved that level three other times.
According to shooting guard Iman Shumpert, in order to keep Mozgov in the rhythm of the offense and continuing to have an impact, the Cavaliers have to ease his self-inflicted burden.
"He was just waiting for me, that's all it was," Shumpert joked. "Timo was waiting for me. I'm the crazy brother that puts the battery in him, I guess. That's my big fella, man. He'll be alright.
"Timo's one of those guys. He puts a tremendous amount of pressure on himself to do everything right all the time. Even though he's very, very good, he's going to make mistakes like all of us. 'Bron makes mistakes, I make mistakes, Ky makes mistakes. We all make mistakes. I think he just puts so much pressure himself, so much responsibility on himself. Sometimes, he gets stuck in those thoughts, and it's our job to make sure we pull him out of those."
