Two fresh faces back on the court for Cavs vs. the Pelicans, but this didn't go as we all had hoped

Per Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, Kevin Love and Larry Nance Jr. will be playing tonight. Darius Garland has been ruled out with a groin injury. New signee Quinn Cook is eligible to play and expected to make an appearance tonight.

Love has been on the sidelines for more than two months with a high-grade calf strain. His minutes on the court will be limited to ensure that he is not overdoing it and risking a repeated injury. The team wants to keep him healthy and ready for their game on Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks.

According to Cleveland.com, "We kind of have a number in mind that we want to put him position where he can build upwards,” Bickerstaff said prior to Friday’s game. “When you’re looking at the schedule, we want him to play in as many games as possible and if that means we have to monitor his minutes more than we would typically, I think that’s what our focus is, trying to get him in as many games as we can to finish out the season.”

Nance Jr. has been out the last 12 games after having surgery on his fractured hand. He was cleared to play following the All-Star weekend. Nance warmed up with the team before their game against the Pelicans on Friday and will be starting tonight.

This game has not been going how the Cavs anticipated. Although Quinn Cook didn't waste time on the court and got some points under his belt right away. Going into the half, the Cavs were down 69-48. At the end of the third, the Cavs were trailing by 36. The Cavs were only able to score nine points in the third quarter.

To say this game has been hard to watch would be under exaggerating by a long run. I expected the Cavs to come out knocking after regaining two starters. Clearly this was not the case. The Cavs took a hard jab and lost 116-82.

Love played for 10 minutes and put up four points. That doesn't sound great, but only being in for 10 minutes, and the Cavs as a whole only scoring nine points in the third quarter, it doesn't sound terrible anymore. Nance Jr. was able to come through with 11 points and Collin Sexton added to the board with 19 points for the game. Quinn Cook came out hotter than most by racking up 13 points for the Cavs.

The Cavs went 30-of-88 on field goals, 7-32 on 3-pointers, and 15-20 on free throws. The largest lead they had all game was by two points. The Pelicans' largest lead all game was 40. The new starting lineup that the Cavs experimented with tonight was not one that they should stick with.

Quinn Cook is looking like a good match for this team after just one game, even if it was a rough one. I can see the Cavs extending his contract if he is able to be a high scorer. This is going to be a tough loss to come back from, but as long as they believe in The Land, they can get through it.