What a thrilling week of NBA Basketball from the Cleveland Cavaliers! All week long, there were close and competitive games. The Cavs went 3-1 on the week, with the only loss coming in their first game of the week vs the Spurs in yet another exciting game.
Game 1, @ The San Antonio Spurs: The Cavs fell behind early, big time. Players on the Spurs started shooting like Stephen Curry out of nowhere and things fell out of hand quickly. Or so we thought… as the Cavs were down by as many as 19 at one point late in the game, they showed their resilience and nearly completed a full comeback. They fell just short, losing by a missed Donovan Mitchell game-winner for a score of 112-111. As the game went on, Cleveland played better. They started swarming on defense and forcing tougher shots for the Spurs. The offense started heating up, and Evan Mobley started revving his engine (17 points, 14 rebounds). Mitchell scoring the way we’re used too (28 points). Garland struggled a bit again. Overall a very exciting game, and hats off to the Spurs for completing their upset. They played hard and well.
Game 2 @ The Dallas Mavericks: The only game of the week that wasn’t close, and for good reason. The Cavs near top-ranked defense gave Luka Doncic all kinds of trouble all night long, and he shot the ball terribly. The Cavalier offense was on fire. Mitchell scored 34, Lamar Stephens showed up and completed his first double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds. A great game, and the pace and coaching of Cleveland never gave Dallas a real chance to get back into it. I will say, Christian Wood was a bright spot for the Mavs however. The cavs win 105-95.
Game 3 vs the Indiana Pacers: A close, tough game. The Cavaliers pulled away late for a tough 118-112 win. Donovan Mitchell played like an MVP, and the Crowd thought so too as they chanted “MVP” as he shot a pair of free throws late in the game to ice his 41-point performance. Garland looked better than he has recently, hitting some tough shots and dishing out 10 assists. An efficient night in the end, but the Pacers made Cleveland work for it. Indiana has a solid young core; Tyrese Haliburton is impressive and dished out 14 assists and 17 points. The impressive rookie Mathurin looked like exactly what I just said; an impressive rookie. He played well and drew a lot of tough contact fouls. Props to Indiana.
Game 4 vs the Dallas Mavericks: A tough overtime game vs a short-handed Dallas team almost proved to be too much for Cleveland on the back end of a back-to-back, but they squeaked out the win by a score of 100-99. Christian Wood played amazing, hitting 3s and tough shots all game long. He finished with 26 points, while Kemba Walker looked like vintage Kemba and led the Mavs in scoring with 32. Evan Mobley continues to improve his offensive game and try to bring it up to speed with his defense, and the work he’s putting in is showing. He scored 17 in the win. The Cavs top scorer was… you guessed it, Donovan Mitchell. Surprised? I’m not. He is efficient, he is elite. Enough said. Garland finished with a near triple-double, scoring 18 points along with 12 assists and 7 rebounds. A tough, team-building win. I thoroughly enjoyed this game.
Thanks for reading Cavs fans, what a great week we had. Let’s look ahead to grabbing some more wins this upcoming week.
All stats provided courtesy of NBA.com
John Zimmerman