Cavaliers Now

Ty Jerome Drains Seven First-Half Threes, Scores Career-High 29 Points

Matt Newton

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A helpful note to the Cleveland Cavaliers: good things happen when Ty Jerome starts.

The last three games for the Cavs have gone like this:
1. Ty Jerome starts, Cavs win
2. Ty Jerome does not start, Cavs lose
3. Ty Jerome starts, Cavs win

I'm no statistician, but those are just the facts.

Three days after getting his first start with the Cleveland Cavaliers and taking advantage of that opportunity by matching a career-high with 24 points, Ty Jerome returned to the starting lineup on Wednesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans and proceeded to shatter that career mark in the first half... yes, the first half.

Jerome drilled seven three-pointers on 10 attempts and had 27 points, both career-highs, all before halftime.

Watch all seven of those three-pointers below:

Unfortunately, and partly due to the Cavaliers blowing out the Pelicans in the second half and cruising to a 128-100 victory, Jerome did not repeat his electric performance in the second half to get to the 40-point or even the 30-point threshold for the first time in his career. Jerome played less than six minutes in the third quarter and did not see the floor in the fourth quarter, scoring only two points to leave him one point shy of his first-career 30-point game.

Still, Jerome's final statline is still remarkable: 29 points on 10/19 shooting, 7/12 from three-point range, 2/2 from the free throw line, three rebounds, one assist, and a game-high +28 in 23 minutes of playing time.

Watch the video below from Spencer Davies of Cleveland Cavaliers On SI to hear what Jerome had to say about his performance as well as his teammate Georges Niang and his head coach Kenny Atkinson.

On Tuesday night, Jerome returned to the bench as Cleveland took on the reigning NBA Champion Boston Celtics, who ultimately handed the Cavaliers their first loss of the season. Jerome played 28 minutes off the bench, and finished with 10 points on 4/5 shooting to go along with five assists, one rebound, and one steal. Interestingly, Jerome did not attempt a single three-pointer in his more than 28 minutes on the court in that game, a problem that he and the Cavs remedied the following night as he erupted for a career-high seven three-pointers.

For the season, Jerome is now averaging 11.8 points and 3.6 assists per game while shooting 55.1% from beyond the arc, good for second in the league. Checking in on ESPN's Player Efficiency Rating (PER) stat, Jerome still ranks 11th with a PER of 24.93, just behind Stephen Curry. His true shooting percentage of 72.6% ranks ninth in the entire NBA.

Followers of UVA basketball have always known that Ty Jerome was capable of this success in his basketball career, but NBA fans are starting to take notice too, now that Jerome is finally healthy and getting a chance to show what he can do. Not only is Jerome playing the best basketball of his life, but he is also a meaningful contributor on one of the best teams in the NBA and a team that has a legitimate shot at making a run to the NBA Finals in June.

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.