CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Kevin Porter Jr. was coming off the two worst games of his young career.

On Friday night, he got ejected for losing his cool and shouting at the referee following a questionable call, prompting head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who has become a mentor for the talented rookie, to speak with Porter about trying to harness that passion and emotion, using it as an asset instead of a detriment. The next night in Miami, Porter looked overmatched and out of rhythm, missing all five of his shots and getting benched in the fourth quarter.

“We need to get him going in the right direction again,” one member of the organization told cleveland.com while watching Porter go through his pregame routine Monday night.

The Cavs did just that. Porter bounced back emphatically, delivering the kind of performance that has some within the team believing that he might be the one. The one to become the team’s best player at some point. The one to alter the franchise’s trajectory.

“There’s no might,” a player told cleveland.com before leaving the locker room.

The talent has always been evident. A team executive proclaimed him a top 10 player before the draft. General manager Koby Altman still remembers being awestruck by Porter’s spectacle at the Nike Hoop Summit two years ago. That performance, a catchy first impression, stuck with Altman up to draft night.

But not everyone viewed Porter the same way. His lone season at USC became a tumultuous short stint defined by injury and inconsistency. He couldn’t escape the questions about immaturity, attitude and coachability. The red flags led to Porter’s draft night tumble -- all the way to the end of the first round.

After two years of bad lottery luck, the Cavs finally had something -- or someone -- fall their way. With Porter, one of their favorites in the class, still on the board, they moved back into the first round, trading four picks and cash, solidifying him as the final piece of an exciting draft class.

“I think we really haven’t even tapped into his potential yet,” Kevin Love said. “He’s really incredible, what he will be capable of in the future.”

Like all rookies, there have been blemishes during this first season. But Monday night shows growth.

Bickerstaff trusted Porter in crunch time. He put him on the floor for the entire fourth quarter and overtime. Put the ball in his hands repeatedly. Diagrammed the final play for him. Encouraged him to be aggressive -- even while sharing the floor with champions Tristan Thompson and Love.

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kevin Porter Jr. dishes the ball off against the Miami Heat in the overtime period. Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com

Just how far has Porter come in five months?

Back in Summer League, Porter was standing by the team bus after a game. Everyone else had already boarded. Team security wanted to leave. But Porter couldn’t. He was waiting for his Uber Eats. The youngster had ordered Wendy’s takeout from the locker room after a game. He wanted fast food. He didn’t know any better. It was all new to him. He never had structure, never had a regimented routine. For most of his life, he had gotten by on natural talent. This was the first time he was being taught to eat right. The Cavs were helping show him the value of proper rest, recovery and routine.

They always wondered internally, even with the many questions that harmed his draft stock, what would it look like when he started to figure out?

Well, they are getting those answers. Monday was his moment. He earned it.

“Earlier in the year, I’m not so certain he would have been in the game at the end right there, or in the fourth quarter,” Larry Nance Jr. said. “Just the growth to show that, what he’d play 41 tonight, I think I looked up and saw 41 minutes, 30 points, efficient and closed the game like an NBA closer? I mean, that’s big time. That’s what this year is all about, games like that and seeing him and Darius (Garland) close that game out at the one and two is really what this year is about. So to see that, against the Heat of all teams? Invaluable.”

At the start of the fourth quarter, with the Cavs trailing by 19 points, staring at another wire-to-wire blowout loss, Bickerstaff had a message for Porter -- and everyone else in the huddle.

“Score don’t matter,” he said. “Just win this quarter.”

The Cavs did. They smashed the Heat, 31-12, and sent the game into overtime, punctuating an improbable comeback with a 125-119 win.

The Cavs did it behind a pair of rookies -- Porter and Darius Garland -- and a strange lineup. They’ve have come to expect big minutes from Thompson late. He played a pivotal role in Friday’s rally against Washington. Love has made his share of clutch buckets. Even Nance is becoming a fourth-quarter staple, not allowing the coaches to pull him off the court when it matters most.

Porter and Garland? Together? That’s new. That’s essential to Cleveland’s future success.

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland celebrates after a Kevin Love bucket to put the Cavs up over the Miami Heat 123-118 in overtime. Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com

“That pairing is really good, Collin (Sexton) is really good. Like I think our future at the guard spot is really bright,” Bickerstaff said. "And they can all play with one another, and they all complement one another, and they enjoy playing with one another. It’s our responsibility as coaches to help them get better, to put them in position to be successful. But like when they’ve got that natural bond, that makes it so much easier because they push each other. They want to see each other get better.”

In 12 fourth-quarter minutes Monday night, Porter tallied 11 of his career-best 30 points on 4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-4 from 3-point range to go with three rebounds, one assist and one steal.

He started getting tired and “crampy,” but teammates encouraged him, told him to fight through fatigue. At one point in the fourth quarter, Bickerstaff went to his pupil and delivered a message.

“Keep going,” Bickerstaff said. “I think with him, words aren’t always the answer, but you keep putting the ball in his hands. And he starts to feel that. We started calling plays for him, and he could feel it from his teammates too, and I think that’s even more encouraging. As a coach, when you can kind of just step back and let those guys sit in the huddle and have those conversations, and then when they are on the floor -- like no matter what happens when it was positive or if it was negative -- and they were there for him.

"Larry was there, Tristan was there, Kevin was there, to get him back where we needed him to be, because they knew we needed him. And, like that’s the most important thing is like watching these guys together, how they pull for one another, how they help one another. As a coach, that’s what you want. You want that leadership to come from inside the locker room. And then when you have to do your part, you do yours, but their peers’ voice means a lot to them, so it’s great to have that.”

Porter’s scoring binge started early. His driving layup at the 7:56 mark of the fourth pulled the Cavs within five. About two minutes later, Porter went on a personal 8-0 run that began with a mid-range jumper to make it a three-point game. That was as close as the Cavs had gotten all night.

Then he brought them even closer. Porter drained a pair of triples that electrified the crowd. The first came with the shot clock ticking down. Isolated against fellow rookie Kendrick Nunn, Porter went between his legs, crossed left to right, stepped back, fired and pulled the Cavs even.

After going back to the other end of the floor, Porter turned to Cleveland’s bench, many of his teammates holding up three fingers, and put his right hand over his mouth. On that hand was a new tattoo that he received on Sunday -- fresh ink that depicts the “Joker” smile.

On the next offensive possession, after the Cavs forced a shot-clock violation with scrambling defense, Porter drained another bomb, giving Cleveland its first lead.

“It’s a blessing to have everyone supporting me,” Porter said. “Our crowd is one of the best. When I hit that second one, you could see the whole momentum, that definitely shifted the whole game and I feel like there are going to be more times where I have to do that down the stretch and I have to take it upon myself sometimes to make that play and be that playmaker. Definitely exciting hearing the crowd go crazy. Couldn’t hear for like two seconds. It was nice.”

Porter wanted this game, especially given the way Saturday went for him and the Cavs. Shortly after the rout in Miami, Porter tweeted “Rematch.” He knew the Heat were coming to town on Monday. He knew the Cavs didn’t put up their best effort over the weekend. The old saying is careful what you wish for. For three quarters, Miami was handing it to the Cavs once again. But then Porter helped back up his tweet.

“We know his potential, how good he can be,” Thompson said. “Every game is going to be a different experience for him. Tonight, he had a hell of a game. Expect nothing but great things for him. I know he can be really good in this league. I know talent. That’s what I expect from him. I’m just happy for him as a person, having a night like this is great for his confidence. It’s great for his growth.

“You’re going to have nights like tonight where you have clarity and everything feels like it’s easy, and you’re going to have nights where it’s tough and you’re going to be frustrated and sometimes question or second-guess yourself. But the key is to stay the course, stay with your routine and stay professional. And that’s what I told K.P. As a pro he came out and he was ready to play, and that’s growth and development. Some young guys would sit in their own s--- and mope around, but no, KP came out and was ready to play.”

It wasn’t just Porter. Garland, the fifth pick in the draft, another pillar of this rebuild, was also on the floor for those final 17 minutes.

“Me and DG, since Day One, we’ve been talking about our chemistry and growing together, building an empire,” Porter said of the pairing.

Garland scored four points to go with three assists in the fourth quarter. He made a driving layup with 25.7 seconds to push the lead from one to three. No, the Cavs didn’t hold on for a regulation win. They had to fight for five more minutes. They did. And they executed. With 42.4 seconds remaining in OT, it was Garland who gave the team a needed cushion.

The shot clock about to expire, Garland used a Thompson screen, navigated his way through traffic into the paint, stopped, pump-faked Goran Dragic out of his sneakers and tossed in a feathery floater. With a big smile on his face, Garland bounced back to the other end of the floor and stared back at the Miami bench.

“That’s what point guards are supposed to do,” Thompson said. “At the end of the day, we drafted DG as a PG so in the fourth quarter and overtime, he’s got to be the floor general out there and make the right calls. We knew he had Dragic on him, so I told him let’s go pick and roll, me and him, and we know Dragic is not known for his defending and he made the right plays.”

What Monday night ultimately means is up to everyone involved. It could be a springboard into the final few months and then an important off-season. No matter what, it was evidence of progress.

These are the nights where the foundation feels sturdier. When the plan looks clear. The future looks bright. Porter and Garland can illuminate that path.

“I think the sky’s the limit for both of them,” Bickerstaff said.

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