It wasn’t pretty, but at this point in the season, a win is all that matters. With less than 10 games separating the Eastern Conference’s top seed, and the eighth, the Cleveland Cavaliers picked up a huge win over the visiting LA Clippers on Monday night, 120-111.
With the score knotted at 106 at the end of the fourth quarter, the Cavs played in, and won, their first overtime game of the season. Led by Darius Garland, Cleveland outscored the Clippers 14-5 in the overtime session to get the win. Rookie of the Year favorite Evan Mobley had a career-high 30 points on 13-of-22 shooting from the field, and also had six rebounds and two blocks. With All-Star center Jarrett Allen out indefinitely with a fractured finger, Mobley has been tasked with playing the center role the last couple of games, which is a natural fit for him, anyhow.
Outside of Mobley, Cleveland’s All-Star point guard in Garland also had a very good night, scoring 24 points, but even more importantly, dishing out 13 assists. Garland has reached double-digit assists in four of the Cavs last five outings. Isaac Okoro continued to show signs that he’s turning into a nice two-way player, too.
He scored 20 points Monday night, however, 11 of those points came from the free throw line. The wing out of Auburn got to the line 13 times tonight, which means he’s attacking the basket more frequently, and getting good results when he does so. Finally, after a nine-game absence due to injury, Caris LeVert played his first minutes since the All-Star break for Cleveland. He was solid as always, scoring 11 points on 50% shooting from the field. LeVert was on a minutes-restriction to ease him back into game-shape.
Overall it was a quality win for the Cavaliers, and they needed it considering how tightly contested the Eastern Conference has become. Now, the Clippers were admittedly shorthanded here, still without Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, and Reggie Jackson was not in action here.
With that being said, it was good to see this young Cavalier team go out and dominate their first overtime game of the year. They have four games left of their home stand upcoming, and to be competing for a playoff spot, one would assume they need to win at least two of them, if not three more.
But, before we look into the oncoming traffic that is the Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons, and of course the Los Angeles Lakers, let’s take a look at who or what were the studs and duds from Monday’s big win.