Ty Jerome, a Sixth Man of the Year award finalist, continues to pump up his value heading into unrestricted free agency. The Cavaliers guard poured in 28 points in 26 minutes during his first postseason game on Sunday. “This is who Ty is. This is not a shock,” Donovan Mitchell said, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. “I know everybody’s going to react like this is a shock that he’d been doing this for us all year.”
Jerome burst onto the scene after missing virtually all of last season due to an ankle injury.
“You get time to reflect on where you need to take the next step,” Jerome said, per The Athletic’s Joe Vardon. “Going into the offseason, your back’s kind of against the wall. You don’t play any games. I don’t really have a huge body of work in the NBA. And you kind of have one last shot, in a way, to make it right.”
We have more from the Central Division:
- Dennis Schroder is proving to be one of the most valuable pickups at the trade deadline. Needing backcourt depth with Jaden Ivey sidelined, the Pistons traded for Schroder. The veteran point guard, who’s headed to free agency, delivered a 20-point performance in the Pistons’ Game 2 upset of the Knicks on Monday night. That included a clutch 3-pointer to stave off New York’s late rally. “The ultimate trust,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of playing Schroder in crunch time, per The Athletic’s Hunter Patterson.
- Cade Cunningham played up to his All-Star status with 33 points. The Pistons guard is eager to play postseason games in front of the home fans. He’ll get that opportunity in Game 3 on Thursday and Game 4 on Sunday. “It feels good representing the city like we did (Monday),” Cunningham told John Niyo of the Detroit News. “It’s something that the city’s been waiting on for a long time, so we feel good about it and we’re ready to get back to the crib. … It’s gonna be a lot of fun. I’m excited to see it.”
- The Bulls didn’t pick up their option on Peter Patton’s contract, letting their director of player development go after two seasons. That was an unpopular decision among the players, Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune reports. Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis improved their shooting under Patton’s tutelage and publicly praised him. Patton didn’t hold back his opinions on how the team could improve on and off the court and that didn’t always sit well with members of the team’s brass.