Cavs Finish Back To Back With Win Over Milwaukee

When healthy, the Cavaliers have established themselves as true contenders in the East. If Evan Mobley continues to crank it up on the offensive end, they’re going to be a major problem for everyone moving forward. 

Bouncing back from a listless performance the previous evening, the Wine & Gold got their act together in the second half of the back-to-back – pulling past the Bucks, 114-102, behind a massive effort from Mobley on Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. 

The Bucks were without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton and the Cavs, without Donovan Mitchel for the third straight game. Jrue Holiday continued to pick up the slack for his missing mates; Mobley did the offensive heavy lifting for Cleveland. 

The soft-spoken sophomore from USC was aggressive from the opening tip – setting career marks for both field goal attempts (27) and makes (19) en route to his career-high 38-point performance, leading Cleveland with nine boards to go with three assists. And he was especially good late – netting 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting in the final period as the Cavs pulled away for the season split with Milwaukee. 

With those numbers, Mobley became just the fourth Cavalier 21-years-old or younger to notch at least 38 points, as well as the fourth player in the three-point era to net 38 points-plus without hitting a single three-pointer or free throw. 

The Cavaliers led most of the way on Saturday, including the entire third quarter, before the Bucks took a brief lead to start the fourth. But Mobley took over down the stretch and Cleveland cruised to the win over the final half of the period. 

Darius Garland was outstanding again, following up with 21 points and a team-best 10 assists – his fourth straight game with double-digit dimes – going 9-for-16 from the floor, adding three boards and a pair of steals while committing just a single turnover in 35 minutes of work. 

Caris LeVert getting his third straight start in place of Donovan Mitchell, chipped in with 13 points, seven assists and a steal. Cedi Osman notched 13 points of his own, going 4-of-7 from the floor in 22 minutes off the bench. 

Jarrett Allen rounded out the Cavaliers in double-figures, finishing with 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting, adding six boards, a pair of steals and a blocked shot in the win. 

Jrue Holiday led Milwaukee wit 28 points and 10 assists, going 12-for-27 from the floor. Bobby Portis doubled-up wit 23 points and a game-high 11 boards in the loss.

There was a moment of nervousness at the start of the fourth quarter on Saturday. 

One night after falling to the shorthanded Warriors, the banged-up Bucks suddenly had rallied back from 12 points down to take a late lead – erasing Cleveland’s five-point edge heading into the final 12 minutes.

But after Joe Ingles three-pointer with 10:24 to play in regulation gave Milwaukee a 90-88 lead, and his next triple tied the score at 95-apiece, the Wine and Gold – sand specifically Evan Mobley – took over from there. Mobley would proceed to score the next three field goals, followed by buckets by Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland, wrapping up a 10-0 run and putting Cleveland squarely in the driver’s seat for the duration.

26.5, 11.3 … Points and assists that Darius Garland is averaging over his last four games – topping the 30-point mark twice and doubling-up in all four, while shooting 44 percent (35-of-80) from the floor, 40 percent (14-of-35) from three-point range and 96 percent (22-of-23) from the stripe – committing just nine combined turnovers over that stretch.

Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff, on Evan Mobley’s performance in Saturday night’s win …

“It’s difficult sometimes for big guys to get their just due. It’s difficult for big guys who are unselfish by nature to get their just due. But Evan is a heck of basketball player, and he plays the game the right way. He doesn’t force things because people say he should do more or score more. He’s a basketball purist, in that sense. So, if you run bodies at him and his teammates are open, he’s going to pass it to them 100 times in a row. That’s just who he is. But tonight, that’s how they decided to play him and he was aggressive and still went out and finished.”

Enjoy the best broadcast calls of the night from Cavaliers Radio Network's Tim Alcorn and Rafa Hernandez-Brito from Power 98.1.

After splitting the weekend back-to-back at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the Wine & Gold get right back on the road this week – traveling to New York for a Tuesday night matchup with the R.J. Barrett and the Knicks. From there, it’s a Thursday night showdown with the Rockets in Houston before wrapping up the three-game junket on Friday night in Oklahoma City. 

The Cavaliers return home to close out the month of January – welcoming the Clippers to town next Sunday followed by a Tuesday night meeting with the Heat.