2-14-17 at TWolves

Cavs.com

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Wrap-Up -- Dating back to their incredible shorthanded run to the 2015 NBA Finals, the Cavaliers have prided themselves on their next-man-up mentality.

So when they received news that Kevin Love would miss significant time following left knee surgery, the Wine and Gold knew exactly what to do – continuing their red-hot roll towards the All-Star Break and sweeping the season series against the T-Wolves, taking the 116-108 decision on Tuesday night in Minnesota.

Love was having his best season as a Cavalier, had been outstanding of late – doubling-up in eight of his last 10 games – and was headed for his fourth career All-Star Game on Sunday night. But after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body in his left knee on Tuesday morning, it was determined that he’ll be sidelined for the next six weeks.

Getting his second start in place against Love against Minnesota, Channing Frye stepped up and tied a season-high with 21 points and 10 boards, going 7-for-15 from the floor to go with a pair of blocked shots.

In those two starts, Frye’s averaging 19.5 points, 7.0 boards and 2.0 blocks.

The Cavaliers used a similar formula to the one that helped them drop Minnesota at The Q two weeks ago – running up a 69-point first half and turning up the defensive intensity down the stretch – holding the talented young T-Wolves to just 15 points in the fourth quarter.

LeBron James topped double-digit assists for the 20th time this year – finishing with 25 points and a team-high 14 helpers, going 10-for-14 from the floor, including 2-of-3 from long range.

Kyrie Irving added 25 points of his own, going 10-for-27 from the floor to go with seven assists, a steal and blocked shot.

Tristan Thompson grabbed double-digit boards for the fourth time in his last five games – notching his 16th double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 boards, going 6-of-7 from the floor in the win.

Cleveland got another big boost off the bench from Derrick Williams, who inked a 10-day deal last week and has impressed in every appearance as a Cavalier – finishing with 13 points in 22 minutes, finishing 5-of-7 from the floor to go with six boards.

In his three games with the Wine and Gold, Williams is averaging 10.7 points per while shooting 77 percent – 10-of-13 – from the floor.

The Wine and Gold get contributions from everyone to improve to 38-16.

Andrew Wiggins continued to torment the team that originally drafted him – leading everyone with 41 points on 16-for-29 shooting, including 4-of-8 from long-range. To the Cavaliers’ credit, they held the high-flying forward to just four points in the final period.

Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 26 points but just eight boards and Rick Rubio led both squads with 16 assists.

Turning Point -- The Cavaliers led by 14 points midway through the third quarter and were threatening to pull away as they had in the win over Minnesota earlier this month at The Q.

But Andrew Wiggins caught fire – finishing with 19 points in the period – and his jumper at the third quarter buzzer capped a 20-6 run and tied the game at 93-apiece heading into the fourth.

The Cavs improved their lead to six on Kyle Korver’s triple, but Wiggins got the T-Wolves back to within one – 105-104 – midway through the quarter. But Cleveland clamped down from there, closing the contest on an 11-4 run to win their sixth straight over Minnesota.

By the Numbers – .648 … combined shooting percentage – 46-for-71 – of Kyle Korver and Derrick Williams during the month of February.

Quotable – Derrick Williams, on his role with the Cavaliers …

”I’m ready for the challenge. Anyway I can help, whether it’s on defense, offense, rebounding. I knew tonight without K-Love we needed to get rebounds collectively. Not just one person. Whether it’s tipping the ball out, or keeping the ball alive, whatever it might be. Just trying to get that extra effort.”

Up Next -- The Cavaliers complete the first half of the season – although it’ll be their 55th game of 2016-17 – on Wednesday night, taking on the Pacers, who they dropped one week earlier in Indiana. On Sunday night, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving will suit up for the 66th annual All-Star Game at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. The Wine and Gold get back to work the following Thursday, when they take on the Knicks in a nationally-televised affair at The Q.

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Next Men Up Lead Cavs Past Wolves in Minnesota

clenadams

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Breaking Down The 'W' - February 14, 2017

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#CavsWolves Game Photos - February 14, 2017

clejgabriele

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After a January in which they finished under .500, the Cavaliers have been back in business heading towards the Break – going 5-1 in February with two games remaining before the big weekend in the Big Easy.

On Tuesday night, it’s their final road game of the first half, traveling to Minnesota to wrap up the season series – taking on a T-Wolves team they beat by 28 points to get back on track this month.

On Saturday night, the Wine and Gold returned home after a successful 3-1 road trip and used an 18-0 run to start the second half, blowing past the Nuggets at The Q and improving to a Conference-best 23-5 mark at home.

The Timberwolves have gone in the opposite direction after that February 1 loss in Cleveland – dropping five of six before blowing out the Bulls, 117-89, on Sunday night.

The Cavaliers still have the best mark in the East, but they head into the Break with both Boston and Washington – each 9-1 in their last 10 outings – closing in quickly and looking to make their move in the second half.

The World Champs have not been immune to the injury bug this season – and as they head to the venue where Kevin Love made his mark, they’ll be without their All-Star forward.

On Tuesday morning in New York, Love underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body from his left knee and he’ll be sidelined for about the next six weeks.

Love, who spent his first six seasons in Minnesota, was having his best season as a Cavalier – earning his fourth career All-Star nod as the only player in the Eastern Conference averaging at least 20 points and 10 boards. And he’d been on a heater heading into his return – notching a double-double in eight of his previous 10 games before the injury.

At least for tonight – and possibly the foreseeable future – Channing Frye will get the start. Frye’s only started three games this season for Cleveland, but he’s been very good in the last two – averaging 16.5 points and 4.5 boards, shooting 54 percent from the floor.

Frye started against Minnesota the last time these clubs met on Feb. 1 – finishing with 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting, adding a pair of blocks in the blowout win.

Andrew Wiggins just about finished his Summer League stint with the Wine and Gold before being shipped to Minnesota in exchange for Kevin Love during the 2014 offseason – and both teams came out of the deal happy.

Aside from his recent injury, Love has returned to All-Star form after helping lead Cleveland to its first professional sports title in over half-a-decade.

Wiggins has done nothing but improve steadily every year with the T-Wolves and comes into tonight’s contest red-hot – having scored at least 20 points in 13 straight games, the longest franchise streak since Kevin Love did so back in 2014. The former Kansas standout is averaging 29.0 points per on 58 percent shooting over his last three games and has always enjoyed going up against the team that traded him –averaging 26.0 points on 56 percent shooting in five games against the Cavaliers.

But while his numbers have been great, the Wine and Gold have taken all five contests – thanks to a small forward on the other side named LeBron James – the Eastern Conference’s reigning Player of the Week.

The King is coming off a 27-point, 12-assist performance in Saturday’s win over Denver – his 19th game this year with double-digit helpers, most in a single season since he did so 24 times back in 2009-10.

It’s hard to argue against any of the big men representing the Western Conference on Sunday night, but it does show that position’s depth if Karl-Anthony Towns is unable to crack the roster.

In his second season in Minnesota, the Big KAT has been even better than his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2015-16 – leading the Timberwolves in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. Over his last 13 games, Towns has topped the 30-point plateau six times and has grabbed double-digit boards in all but three of those contests.

In three career meetings with Cleveland, the former No. 1 overall pick has doubled-up in two of them – including a 26-point, 12-rebound effort in Minnesota’s recent loss at The Q on Feb. 1.

On Tuesday night, Towns will face off against Tristan Thompson – who’s coming off a double-double of his own – finishing with 13 points and 13 boards in Saturday’s win over Denver.

Over his last six games, Cleveland’s iron man is averaging 13.5 points and 9.8 boards, shooting nearly 67 percent from the floor over that stretch.

In less than a week, Kyrie Irving will return to the All-Star venue where he took MVP honors back in 2014 (and where LeBron did so in 2008).

Irving has been consistently excellent all season – notching at least 20 points in 38 of his 47 outings this year, including each of his last four games.

After taking the night off to rest a sore quad in New York two Saturdays ago, Kyrie has averaged 26.8 points on 47 percent shooting over that four game stretch. And even in the one poor shooting game over span – going 8-for-24 on Monday night in Washington – Uncle Drew still rallied to notch 11 points in the overtime period of Cleveland’s thrilling road victory.

The T-Wolves selected guard Kris Dunn with the 5th overall pick in this past Draft, but he’s been unable to unseat the incumbent – Ricky Rubio – Minnesota’s top assist man this season.

In seven meetings against the Wine and Gold, Rubio has handed out double-digit helpers in four of them – including a 14-point, 13-assist effort in his last head-to-head matchup. In that contest, however, Kyrie did him one better – finishing with 14 points and 14 assists with Cleveland winning by four TDs.

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KeyBank Five Keys: Cavaliers at Timberwolves

The Cavaliers will play their final road game before the All-Star break when they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night at the Target Center. Tipoff is at 8:00 p.m. (ET).

Cleveland is 3-1 in their last four road games and leads the Eastern Conference with a 37-16 overall record.

CAVS TO DON GOLD JERSEYS.
        From where to catch all the action to Tuesday's game notes, Cavs.com has you covered.

Get into the conversation with other die-hards.

The Cavs are coming off a 125-109 win over Denver on Saturday, which was the fourth time in six games they’ve put up at least 125 points. This February (5-1 record), the Cavs are averaging 123.7 points on .523 shooting from the field and 26.0 assists. Cleveland has shot at least .500 from the field four times this month, while also dishing out 30 or more assists on three occasions.

Cleveland defeated the Wolves by 28 points (125-97) on February 1 at The Q where the Cavs had a season-high 37 assists on 48 field goals. The Wine and Gold shot .539 (48-89) from the field, including .405 (15-37) from beyond the arc, and outrebounded the Timberwolves, 48-38. Defensively, the Cavs held Minnesota to .436 (41-94) shooting from the field, while tallying a season-high 10 blocks and 10 steals on the night.

Those stats don't bode well for the TWolves who enter Tuesday's contest having dropped five straight contests against the Cavs.

The young Timberwolves are led by a pair of emerging stars in Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns.

In his third-year out of Kansas, Wiggins is averaging a career-high 22.5 points while the second-year Towns is putting up averages of 23.7 points to go along with 11.9 rebounds.

Radio: WTAM 1100, 100.7 WMMS, 87.7 La Mega

For live in-game updates, follow @cavs, @CavsJoeG, @CavsFredMcLeod, @MrCavalier34, @CavsJMike and @chones22 on Twitter.

Status Update: (Cavs) - J.R. Smith, (Right Thumb Fracture, Out), Kevin Love, (Left Knee Effusion, Out), Iman Shumpert, (Left Ankle Sprain, Questionable)

Status Update: (Timberwolves) - Nikola Pekovic, (Right Ankle, Out)

The Cavs have won five straight contests over the Timberwolves, defeating them an average margin of 19.7 points (119.0-99.4) over that stretch.

Cleveland has scored over 100 points in all five previous meetings, including three contests in which they have poured in 125 points.

Overall, the Cavs are shooting .516 from the field (.404 3FG%) and averaging 26.0 assists in their last five games against Minnesota.

This is the second and final meeting between the two teams this season.

On Wednesday night, the Wine and Gold welcome a Pacers team eager to avenge a loss in Indy last week. Following the All-Star break, the New York Knicks come to The Q to start the unofficial second-half on February 23.FIND SEATS | VIEW FULL SCHEDULE

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#CavsWolves Game Preview - February 14, 2017

clejsykes

Cavaliers forward Kevin Love experienced left knee pain during Saturday’s game against the Denver Nuggets at Quicken Loans Arena. He experienced continued soreness and effusion postgame and was examined further on Sunday, including an MRI, at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health by Dr. James Rosneck. Love will undergo additional treatment and evaluation over the next several days and is listed as OUT for the Cavaliers game in Minneapolis vs. the Timberwolves on Tuesday, February 14th. His status will be updated after that as appropriate.

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Kevin Love (Knee) OUT for Tuesday's Game

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2‑14‑17 at TWolves