I think it’s safe to say that the Phoenix Suns are happy that they won’t be seeing the Cleveland Cavaliers until next season. After dominating Cleveland in recent years, the Cavs have beaten the Suns two times in four days. Cleveland came back against the Suns in a 90-88 win on Wednesday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, won by an Evan Mobley jumper late, and Sunday night’s 112-98 win kept the Cavaliers in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, only 2.5 games behind the first place Milwaukee Bucks.
To be fair, the Suns were without Devin Booker and Chris Paul, who missed the game with injuries; Booker has been out an extended stretch with a groin injury and Paul missed the contest because of hip soreness.
Surprisingly, second-year guard Duane Washington Jr. led all scorers with 25 points. He was 5-for-6 from three-point range and shot 50% from the field in 25 minutes off the bench. Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges combined for only 29 points, as the injury-plagued Suns couldn’t put up 100 points for the second straight game versus the Cavaliers.
As for Cleveland, Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell led them in scoring, with both putting up 22 points. Combined, they were 15-of-29 from the field and 4-of-12 from three-point range. A big surprise for the Cavaliers was Isaac Okoro, who got the start and took advantage of the opportunity. He finished with 14 points, but more importantly, shot 4-of-6 from three-point range.
Next up, we’ll highlight the studs and eventually, the duds, from the game.