Cavs stud: Resiliency
Looking at the final box score, not one player for Cleveland had an overwhelmingly positive game against Dallas.
However, several different players stepped up at different times last night. If there was ever such thing as a true “team win,” last night was one of them.
Mitchell’s three-point shot was not falling, as he connected on just 1-of-9 three-point attempts. But, he still found ways to score the ball, as he consistently does, then by attacking the basket and getting to the foul line.
Darius Garland had 18 points and 12 big assists, while Evan Mobley poured in 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Mobley also hit a clutch corner three-pointer in the 4th quarter. He has not been shy about shooting more three-pointers and is cashing in on more of those attempts. If Mobley can consistently knock down the outside shot to go with his strong inside game, he will be even tougher to defend.
Okoro scored 10 points, but as usual, his scoring took a backseat to his stout defense. Okoro had a pair of blocks in this game. Overall, Okoro has done well on the defensive end with blocked shots. He has excellent bounce and shows great timing when going up for a contest.
Even Kevin Love chipped in with a trio of three-point makes that, at the end of the night, proved to be clutch baskets.
Wins like this one against Dallas are going to prove to be valuable in the long term. If Cleveland is to get into the playoffs, they will have their share of playoff games where shots aren’t falling and they will have to find a way to win.