Cavs News: Wolves bench bites, Love, Rubio back in MIN, Don not himself

On Saturday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers were set to conclude their latest road trip, which was a five-gamer out West. Cleveland had the Minnesota Timberwolves on the docket yesterday, when they aiming to finish the road trip at 3-2.

In the contest, the Cavs looked to be in good shape, and after halftime, held a 54-49 lead. They got off to a nice start in the third quarter as well, at one point, were leading 69-55.

From the mid-quarter on, though, the Timberwolves’ bench started to take over. Energy minutes from guys such as Jaylen Nowell and Naz Reid gave Minny quite a spark in the second half, in particular, and Cleveland’s defense was giving up too much dribble penetration in key stretches.

Nowell and Reid had 16 and 17 points off Minnesota’s bench, and the Wolves’ bench outscored Cleveland’s 56-27. Considering Donovan Mitchell was dealing with sickness he’s reportedly been fighting through, and didn’t seem like himself, and the lack of bench play, the second half issues weren’t necessarily overly surprising. The end of the road trip feasibly had to lead to some fatigue as well.

It was disappointing, still, however, given that the Timberwolves were still sans Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert, even with some uneven play this season, still played only 13 minutes.

Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley each had 19 points and eight rebounds, but the Cavaliers’ second half defense was not up to the task, and the bench disparity played a significant role in the games’ 110-102 outcome in favor of the Wolves.

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Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio back in Minnesota yesterday still had to be at least somewhat nostalgic for them. Both of them were teammates on the Timberwolves, in which they played extensively together for three seasons, and Love and Rubio played six and seven NBA seasons, respectively, with Minnesota.

Since those days, Rubio has bounced around a bit, was with the TWolves in a second stint, before ultimately being traded to Cleveland in the offseason of 2021, and Love has been with the Cavs since he was traded to Cleveland in 2014.

Now, again, a return to Minnesota might not have the emotions it used to for both players, but they did still play there for a while in their primes. In the game, Love had six points and eight rebounds, but was just two-of-seven shooting, given interior woes. Rubio in 13 minutes had three points, two rebounds and two assists, as he continues to get reacclimated.

As we briefly alluded to, Mitchell was not seemingly his typical self on Saturday night. He was questionable because of illness heading into the game, and in the outing, Mitchell was only five-of-16 from the field, and two-of-nine from three-point range.

He did have six assists, but he just didn’t seemingly have it on Saturday night, and him playing 37 minutes was pretty surprising, given the circumstances.

Regardless, one shouldn’t be at all concerned about Mitchell, who seems likely to be an Eastern Conference All-Star Starter. Hopefully he gets over this bug soon.

NBA news

Arguably the biggest piece of news to come about from Saturday around the Association was Ja Morant’s dunk against the Indiana Pacers. In the 130-112 victory, which was the Memphis Grizzlies’ ninth in a row, and one where they had six players in double figures, Morant threw down what he considered the best dunk of his career thus far, via The Associated Press and as h/t The New York Post.

The dunk came below on a drive, and Jalen Smith was the victim.

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1614494102644555776?s=20&t=Xm9ell58EZ2FMAvvKAzp9g

Mitchell gave Morant his props, along with Indiana’s T.J. McConnell, among other several others, chimed in.

A “special” player, yes, you could say that. Morant had 23 points and 10 assists in 25 minutes, but that highlight truly sent shockwaves around the league.

Next up: The Cavaliers will face the New Orleans Pelicans in a matinee matchup on MLK Day at home on Monday.