You might have heard about UVA Basketball alum Ty Jerome having a career night in the first half of Cleveland’s 128-100 win over New Orleans on Wednesday night.
I didn’t write that wrong. Jerome had just tied his career high with 24 points in the Cavaliers’ 128-114 win over Charlotte on Sunday.
Then he went off for 27 points in the first half Wednesday night, with 20 in the second quarter, and not one, not two, but three heat-check threes.
Jerome, a sixth-year pro, finished with 29 points, largely because Cleveland was up big, and coach Kenny Atkinson got plenty of time for his non-rotation guys in the third and fourth quarters.
Jerome is averaging a career-high 11.8 points per game for the 16-1 Cavs, maybe as importantly, getting on the floor in all 17 games.
Availability hasn’t been among Jerome’s abilities as a pro – he’s not played more than 48 games in a season, and last year, he was out for the season with an ankle injury after just two games.
His NBA career seemed to be on the line going into this season, with some speculation that Cleveland may just buy him out of the second year of the two-year deal that Jerome signed in the summer of 2023.
Good thing for all involved that didn’t happen.
“It’s a little bit out of nowhere, quite honestly, especially for a guy that was on the shelf last year and injured,” Atkinson said.
Jerome, for his part, never wavered in his confidence in himself, which seems important here.
“The amount of work I put in, my teammates, the coaching staff, it’s kind of the perfect storm,” Jerome said after his outburst Wednesday night. “You believe in yourself, everyone around you believes in you, the coaches are empowering everybody. If I pass up a shot, I’ll get yelled at. With that type of belief from everyone around me, you have no choice but to believe in yourself.”
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Chris Graham
