There’s no reason to worry about Max Strus’ horrible game on Easter originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

It was a rough Easter Sunday for Max Strus. He had the worst shooting night of his short season, going just 1-10 from the floor and 1-9 from three. Culminating with him finishing Sunday’s game with just four points. All on a night where the Cleveland Cavaliers were short-handed. Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, Jaylon Tyson, Dean Wade, and Sam Merrill were all out for the game. Putting a heavy workload on Strus and the rest of the squad.

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The Cavaliers still won, 117-108, but that was mostly on Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, who combined for 66 points on the night. The win got the Cavs to number 49 on the season.

For Strus, he struggled against arguably the worst team in the NBA, the Indiana Pacers. It was a performance you hoped Strus wouldn’t have with the playoffs around the corner. You’d hope that Strus would have a better outing, especially when you consider that he’s been out for most of the season. After all, the playoffs are in four short games, and then it’s the most important stretch of the season. Strus has to be ready for that.

Getting him playoff-ready is crucial, so watching him fall apart against one of the easiest defenses is far from what was expected of him. Now some fans are starting to worry.

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They shouldn’t.

The Cavaliers are still one of the best teams in the NBA, and have only gotten better with Strus’ return. Even with the bad outing against the Pacers, Strus is still hitting just under half of his shots from the floor at a clip of 48.1%. His shot from three is exceptional as well, hitting 44.7% from three. Even with a bad game, Strus is still shooting lights out.

If he were to miss his shot, however, as he did on Sunday against the Pacers, that wouldn’t mean he isn’t capable of contributing elsewhere. He’s been finding other ways to contribute since his return, most notably by being relentless on the boards. Over the last nine games, he’s been averaging six rebounds per game. It’ll likely be the highest number he posts for an entire season, even if his season is only a handful of games long.

Strus is doing everything he can to help support the faces of the team. He’s passing well, playing hard on defense, rebounding, and hitting his mark more often than not. It’s one of the reasons the Cavs are 7-2 since he returned from his injury, and it’s very likely the reason why the Cavs may get past the second round for the first time since landing Donovan Mitchell.

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