The day is Thursday, October 30th. The biggest day for all of Cleveland in the last four years. It is opening night for the Cavaliers. Dan Gilbert, Cleveland Cavaliers GM, managed to make three HUGE moves over the summer, including the return of the prodigal son, LeBron James. He also resigned Kyrie Irving and managed to trade for Kevin Love. The Cavaliers now have three of the ten All Star starters from a year ago, and are heavily favored to win the NBA Title. They open the season with a home game against the New York Knicks. Cleveland’s new “Big Three” should be unstoppable, right? I mean, last year their combined points per game average was 74.5 points, of course each playing for their respective team. But now they’re together, along with the other nine members of the team. They should have no problem putting up at least 110 points per game, right?

Wrong.

The Cavaliers dropped their season opener to the Knicks, who although had a healthy Carmelo Anthony at the time, have proven to be the worst NBA team this year. Lets progress through the next few months into January. By now, the Cavs should have it together and be playing to their potential, you would think. But their record says otherwise. They are a mere 19-17, barely eclipsing the .500 mark. Not to mention that Anderson Varejao, the Cavaliers’ center, blew out his achilles and is sidelined for the year. The fans are becoming restless and are talking of wanting the head coach fired. LeBron is being criticized for not playing hard, and statistically, Kevin Love is having the worst season of his career. Things are looking rough. You know they will get it together sooner or later, but it needs to be sooner. As in now.

Enter Timofey Mozgov.

Dan Gilbert traded two protected first round picks to get this big 7’1’ white guy. Most people recognize the name, but don’t know what he brings to the table. Is he really worth two first round picks? Time will tell, they say.

And time says absolutely yes.

It is now the beginning of the playoff season, and the Cavs have risen all the way up to the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Their record, since January 9th when Timofey played his first game with the team, is 36-12. That’s a .250 difference in winning percentage from before he came. In other words, 25 more games out of every 100 are a win. That is a monstrous difference. And to add to that, 23 of the 36 wins have been by ten or more points. And he doesn’t just help offensively. He is a tree inside the paint. For example, before Mozgov was a Cavalier, opponents averaged 99.5 points per game. That number has since dropped to 95.96 points per game, about a 3.5 ppg difference. His presence is felt all over the court. Just ask Coach David Blatt: “Moz has been one of the key factors in us turning our season around. He fits in extremely well with the other guys -- he understands what we want from him and what the other guys expect from him.”

Its clear:

Timofey Mozgov saved the Cleveland Cavaliers season.