The Cavaliers didn’t bring their “A” game, but they still got the “W” in the nation’s capital.
Cleveland opened a three-game roadtrip with a 114-106 win over the Wizards, who gave the Cavs everything they could handle for three quarters before the Cavs finally pulled away.
It was 27-27 after one quarter, and 57-57 at halftime.
“Give them credit,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of the Wizards. “They competed their tails off, played the game the right way, defended us extremely well, moved the ball offensively, so give them credit. But it was great to see our guys just figure out a way and come up with one.”
Donovan Mitchell did what he does, leading the Cavaliers with 40 points and eight rebounds. Evan Mobley chipped in 22 points on a hyper-efficient 9-of-10 from the field, and snagged eight rebounds. Showcasing a new dimension to his game since returning from knee surgery, Mobley was 2-of-2 from 3-point range.
With the win, the Cavs extended their NBA-best winning streak to seven games. They’re 20-4 since Dec. 16, and currently hold the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference standings. The Celtics beat Atlanta to maintain a five-game lead over Cleveland in the conference standings, while the fading 76ers fell to Golden State, looking lost without Joel Embiid. Milwaukee and New York were idle.
Fun fact: Kyle Kuzma, who had 28 points, would look dapper in a Cavs uniform.
“The game of the night in the NBA is right here in downtown Cleveland,” Bally Sports play-by-play man John Michael declared prior to tipoff of the Cavaliers’ Feb. 5 matchup with the surging Sacramento Kings.
Heading into the game, the Kings had won six of their last seven, and were 5-1 on a seven-game roadtrip that concluded at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Meanwhile, the Cavs had won 13 of their last 14 games and 18 of their last 22 games, and were riding an eight-game home winning streak.
The first quarter seemed to portend a Monday-night shootout.
There were 14 first-quarter lead changes. The Cavs were 8 of 12 from 3-point range in the first period, while the Kings hit six 3-pointers. The Cavs led 39-34 after the first.
From that point on, it was clear that the Kings lacked the necessary firepower to hang with the Wine & Gold. That’s saying a lot, considering Sacramento had the top-ranked offense in the NBA last season, and the highest offensive rating in the history of the NBA.
The Cavs took a 74-59 lead at halftime, on the shoulders of Donovan Mitchell’s 19 first-half points. Max Strus chipped in nine points in the first half – all coming from 3-pointers.
The 74-point explosion was the Cavaliers’ highest first-half scoring output of the 2023-2024 season. At the break, the Cavs already had made 13 of 22 3-point attempts.
The onslaught continued in the second half.
Strus canned three more triples, finishing with 22 points and five rebounds. He was a scorching 6 of 10 from 3-point range.
The Kings cut the Cavs’ lead to 10 early in the fourth quarter. But the Cavs responded by reloading. With 10:07 left in the game, Evan Mobley overpowered a double-team in the paint to make it 108-96 Cavs. After the Cavaliers got a defensive stop, Dean Wade canned a 3-pointer on the next Cavs possession to make it 111-96.
The second of back-to-back triples from Caris LeVert made it 117-101 with 8:17 left to play.
Mitchell finished with a game-high 29 points.
Caris LeVert turned in another strong performance off the Cavaliers’ bench. The gluten-free LeVert had 17 points, six rebounds and seven assists.
Jarrett Allen had 19 points on a George Gervin-like 8 of 10 from the field. Evan Mobley finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds in his fourth game back from knee surgery.
Ultimately, the Cavaliers had seven players in double figures, including 11 each from Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro.
“When you get that many guys in double figures, that means the ball is moving at a rapid pace,” Austin Carr said on the Bally Sports telecast.
The Cavs were a torrid 23 of 41 from 3-point range. It was their 16th straight game with 12 or more 3-pointers – a franchise record.
The Cavaliers seem to be taking a huge step forward as a title contender. They’ve been handling their business against sub-.500 teams throughout the season. But lately, they’ve been getting the job done against some of the top teams in league, notching quality wins over Milwaukee, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Kings in recent weeks.
“I’m starting to feel a calmness about this team that I didn’t feel last year at this time,” Carr remarked. “They were jittery last year. Now this team plays with a confidence and a calmness that I didn’t see last season.”
With the 136-110 win over Sacramento, the Cavaliers vaulted into the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference standings on a percentage basis.
They say all good things must come to an end, but this one almost didn’t.
One night after Jarrett Allen set a franchise record with his 16th consecutive double-double, Allen appeared to notch his 17th straight dub-dub in the first half of the Cavaliers’ Feb. 1 matchup at Memphis. Allen went into the locker room with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
However, at the beginning of the third quarter, it was announced that the NBA had taken away one of those rebounds from Allen’s stat line.
“Even though the courtside statistician inside Memphis’ FedEx Forum awarded Allen with a rebound at the 5:02 mark of the second quarter, the stats crew in Secaucus, NJ, determined that Allen did not establish firm control of the board following Jaren Jackson Jr.’s top-of-the-key 3-point attempt,” Fedor wrote.
Unfortunately, Allen didn’t get much of a chance to officially haul in rebound No. 10.
With 9:33 left in the third quarter, Allen fell awkwardly after colliding with the Grizzlies forward Vince Williams Jr. Allen checked out of the game at the next timeout, and it was reported that he suffered a left-ankle injury on the play.
While Allen didn’t make it to double-double No. 17, his impressive run of 16 consecutive double-doubles remains etched in Cleveland Cavaliers history.
Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on Jan. 23 to treat a right-ankle impingement, the team said.
The 6-5 guard played in the first two games of the season for the Cavs, chipping in two points in the opening-night win at Brooklyn and two points against Oklahoma City on Oct. 27. The fifth-year guard from the University of Virginia has been anchoring the team’s injury report ever since.
“Recent imaging at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health, in addition to repeated evaluation and rehabilitation by the Cavaliers medical staff, confirmed that surgery was the best course of action to heal the affected area,” the Cavaliers said in a statement. “Jerome will be out indefinitely and his return to basketball activities will be updated as appropriate.”
Cleveland signed Jerome to a two-year, $5 million deal this past July, outbidding the Warriors, who tried to make him a restricted free agent. In his first and only season with Golden State in 2022-2023, Jerome averaged 6.9 points and three assists in 18 minutes off the bench. Jerome shot 48.8% from the field and 39% from 3-point range last season.
With Jerome out indefinitely and Ricky Rubio retired, it will be interesting to see what the Cavs do to add more depth at the point-guard position.
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