FILM BREAKDOWN: How the Cleveland Cavaliers used Max Strus in creative ways in his season debut

FILM BREAKDOWN: How the Cleveland Cavaliers used Max Strus in creative ways in his season debut

Most people would be happy to have 24 points in their first game back after missing most of the season because of a broken left foot.

Not Max Strus.

Don’t get the Cleveland forward wrong. He was happy to be back on the court Sunday, but the effort by him came in a loss as Dallas pulled away for a 130-120 victory.

The loss to the Mavericks came two days after the Cavaliers earned a 138-105 victory in Dallas.

“I wasn’t good enough,” he said. “Obviously we didn’t win, so you could say all the things you want to say. I’m proud of myself, yes, but at the end of the day we didn’t win the game. It’s a bad loss for us and hopefully we get the next one.”

Strus entered Sunday’s game with 4:53 remaining in the first quarter. He made a pair of 3-pointers from the left wing in his first 75 seconds on the court.

Strus scored 16 points in the first half. According to Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first player since 1997-98 to score at least 15 points in the first half of a season debut after not playing in at least the first 60 games of the season.

He finished 7 of 9 from the field, including 6 of 7 on 3-pointers, in 23 minutes.

“Everybody telling me I need to be more positive. So still going to try to be myself, but understand and be grateful for a lot of things and being grateful to be happy,” Strus said. “It was hard to not play, to not be out there with my teammates for that long. I didn’t expect it to be that long, but it was.”

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