Cavs vs Nets: Nic Claxton & 30YO Forward Break Into a Brawl in Cleveland

The transition from a beautiful play to a brawl can be quick in the game of basketball. Fans witnessed something similar in the recent game of Cleveland Cavaliers vs Brooklyn Nets. An incident that occurred between Nic Claxton and Georges Niang marred tonight’s game.

It all started when Niang held and pushed Claxton into Mikal Bridges, who was attempting a dunk. Although the dunk went in successfully, Claxton fell on the court. And after this, Niang even almost stood on the top of the Nets’ big man.

However, Clax was in no mood to let things slide. The  24-year-old immediately got up and was almost ready to throw hands at his opponent from the Cavaliers. The quick intervention by the referee prevented things from escalating any further. Claxton was so furious at Niang that he even shoved the referee while charging at the Cavs forward. However, the involvement of the two referees pacified the situation almost within seconds.

Match Analysis

Although the Cavaliers continue to be way ahead of Nets in Eastern Conference, this game has proved that Nets have potential to surpass them sooner or later. The aggression by George Niang did not seem to work in his team’s favor in any way as the Nets went on to win the game by 120-101.

Both teams were competing with each other neck-to-neck for the first two quarters. While Cavaliers were 28 against Nets’ 29 in the first quarter, the second quarter witnessed a draw between the two teams, each scoring 23 points. However, the Nets managed to get a significant lead of 15 points in the third quarter and did not let the Cavaliers recover in the fourth quarter as well. The result was a clear win for the Nets.

The aggression by Niang did not seem to convert into victory for his team. However, it cannot be denied that Niang, even though by a negligible margin, outperform Clax in this game. The Cavaliers star scored 20 points in the game with 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Meanwhile, Claxton scored 16 points with 3 assists. However, the 24-year-old player from Nets had more rebounds to his name than Niang. Though, a detailed comparison to the two players’ stats can paint a better picture of their career trajectory so far.

Georges Niang vs Nic Claxton: A statistical analysis

It is worth mentioning that Niang has got a primary advantage of experience to his credit as compared to Nic Claxton. Niang has played 446 games in his 8 seasons so far, Claxton has only had an experience of 3 seasons so far. He has played 224 games so far. But Clax has had much better stat-line in his early seasons as compared to Niang.

Clax had  averaged 4.6, 6.6 and 8.7 points per game in his first three seasons respectively. On the other hand, Georges averaged 0.9, 1.0 and 4.0 points per game in his initial three seasons. Notably, Georges played way too less games in his first two seasons.

However, another factor that has to be taken into consideration is the different playing positions of the two players from their respective teams. While Niang plays as power forward from Cavaliers, Clax plays Center for the nets. So the mere stat comparison cannot give an accurate idea of who among the two players is better but just a career trajectory of the two.

Let us know your preference among the two players with your views in the comments.

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