Random dribbles following the Cavaliers’ thriller of a 113-110 road win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
1. The Mavericks probably thought the Cavs had no chance to win. Not when the Cavs again were without Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley. Or not when the Mavs led by 20 points in the first half. Or especially not when the Cavs trailed by nine with 5:40 left in the game.
2. Heck, the Cavs probably didn’t think they had much of a chance, either. But they didn’t show it. They behaved as if they had nothing to lose. One thing they didn’t do was treat this like any old regular-season game.
3. So how did the Cavs win it? “Grit,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters. “Plain and simple.”
4. That about sums it up. And when you’re playing without your standout backcourt and a defensive presence such as Mobley, you have no choice but to try to do it as a team. Outmanned and overlooked, that’s precisely how the Cavs did it.
5. You can talk about Caris LeVert coming off the bench to score 29 points in 28 minutes, burying a late 3-pointer to give the Cavs a lead they would never relinquish. The man was just huge.
6. As Bickerstaff said, without Mitchell and Garland, the Cavs needed LeVert to take defenders off the dribble and put the ball in the hoop. He followed that directive to a T.
7. Or you can talk about Jarrett Allen, who scored 24 points and grabbed 23 massive rebounds. He also played an important role in helping to contain Mavs star Luka Doncic, who went for 39 points — but just 10 in the second half. Credit Bickerstaff for making the adjustment and having Allen help out on Doncic defensively.
8. Allen has been very good since Mobley went down. Clearly, he recognizes the Cavs’ needs without not just Mobley, but Mitchell and Garland, too.
9. Bickerstaff on Allen’s performance: “He’s relentless. It was impressive. It was a refusal to let us lose in so many different ways. We asked him to do so many things out there defensively. And then offensively we put the ball in his hands and let him make the right basketball play.”
10. Bickerstaff speaks the truth, as the Cavs’ center also recorded six assists. Overall, the Cavs passed for 34 — with LeVert and rookie Craig Porter Jr. each tallying seven, Max Strus tying Allen with six.
11. The Cavs (18-13) have now won three of four without Mitchell, and are 5-1 since their three-game losing streak.
12. Allen on the upward trend: “As long as we can hold down the fort until we get healthy again, that’s what we’re looking forward to. You can’t just discount this team. We’re going to step to every single matchup and give it our all.”
13. All this and we haven’t even mentioned Isaac Okoro, who put together perhaps his best showings of the season, scoring 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-7 on threes. Meanwhile, Porter added nine points and 12 rebounds. Yes, the smallest guy in the starting five grabbed a dozen boards.
14. But again, it really was teamwide defense (along with a few big shots) that won this one. Doncic rested for the first six minutes of the fourth quarter — and the Cavs went on a 15-0 run when he returned.
15. Still, the Mavs had a chance to tie it after Georges Niang missed two free throws with eight seconds left. It marred an otherwise nice showing from Niang, who scored a season-high 16 points.
16. Anyway, the Cavs trapped Doncic on the final possession, forcing him to give up the ball to Seth Curry — who had his desperation three blocked by Strus.
17. Ballgame. And for the second straight time, the Cavs won a road game without their top three scorers.
18. Last year at this time, the Cavs were 20-11 and riding a three-game winning streak. They’re pretty close to that now, again, without their biggest guns. We tend to focus on the negative in sports, but given all the injuries, Cleveland is undoubtedly better than it should be. As the win in Dallas shows, everyone deserves credit — Bickerstaff, Allen, LeVert, the front office for discovering Porter … the list goes on.
19. Next up: The mighty Milwaukee Bucks at home on Friday. I suspect Mitchell will be back. No one told me that. It’s just a gut feeling. After all, playing with the rest of these guys is probably something he’s itching to do.
No Donovan Mitchell, no Darius Garland, no Evan Mobley. Cavs win second straight road game anyway, this time over Mavs, 113-110. Overcome 20-point deficit.
Jarrett Allen 24 points and a whopping 23 rebounds. Caris LeVert 29 points and the gutsy late 3 for lead. More hoops… pic.twitter.com/aONGfICfsC
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) December 28, 2023
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