Without Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Donovan Mitchell, the Cavs(18-13) seemingly had no shot to beat the Mavericks(18-13) in Dallas on Wednesday night, but in the game of basketball, anything can happen.
One thing that happened was Jarrett Allen. He was special against the Mavericks. Allen had 24 points (9-17 FG, 6-6 FT), a season-high 23 rebounds, six assists and two steals. With 24 points and 23 rebounds, Allen garnered his fourth career 20-20 game and second as a Cavalier.
Another person who stepped up was Caris LeVert, who scored a team-high 29 points off the bench. After trailing by as many as 20 points in the first half, Cleveland, who trailed 101-91 with just over seven minutes to go, closed the game on a 22-9 run, including a 15-0 spurt, to defeat the Mavs 113-110.
Allen and LeVert weren’t the only two to step up. Isaac Okoro had a season-high 22 points, and Georges Niang added a season-high 16 points off the bench, and Craig Porter Jr. had nine points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
“Guts, plain and simple,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said about the win. “It was the ability to dig down and go somewhere when things weren’t going your way. We were struggling defensively in the first half, but collectively we went out and just found a way. You don’t do that without heart, courage, and fortitude.”
The Cavs, who outrebounded the Mavs by 20, trailed by 15 points at halftime, but despite the deficit, Allen knew Cleveland had what it took to get back into the game.
“We knew we could come back in the game,” Allen said. “I know, before the half, we cut it to six at one point. I don’t think if that was after or before, but we just used that momentum to carry us through the game.”
LeVert said the comeback was about getting stops on the defensive end.
“Try to get a stop,” he said. “I think we were scoring pretty decently. We were getting great shots, though we weren’t knocking down at the rate we knew we could. It was just about getting stops, and I think we finally did that in the second half. I think we held them under 25 [points] both the third and fourth quarter, and that was huge for us.”
Dallas had one last chance to tie the game, but LeVert and Allen double-teamed Luka Doncic, which led to Doncic passing it off to Seth Curry, whose shot was partially blocked by Max Strus. LeVert explained what the Cavs did defensively on the final play.
“Yeah, we obviously knew that Luka thrives in those types of moments,” LeVert said. “We tried to make it tough for him. J [Jarrett Allen] did a great job of trapping him, and then Max [Strus] did a great job of contesting that Seth Curry jump shot.”
The Mavs had five players in double figures, led by Doncic’s game-high 39 points, who was not happy with how the team performed in the fourth.
“We played bad,” he said. “We missed a lot of good shots – that was on me in the fourth quarter.”
Dallas’ two-game winning streak was snapped with the loss, while the Cavs have now won two straight.
The Mavericks battle the Timberwolves in Minnesota on Thursday night; Cleveland returns Friday night when they host the Bucks at home.
Photo: Cavs/X
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