Cavs Prevail Late In Sluggish Game Against Mavericks, 98-87; Three Takeaways From The Victory

1. Grinding Out A Win Late- The Cavaliers were nowhere near productive for three-quarters of the game and shot only 41.2% from the floor. Yet they somehow managed to put together a decent enough quarter to win the ballgame down the stretch. Dallas did bench their entire starting unit to start the fourth quarter and the second wave of guys played a significant amount of minutes, which played some role in the comeback surge. But, Cleveland was able to put up twenty-five points in the final frame and LeBron got going just enough to stave off the Mavericks.

But as the playoffs continue to draw closer, one must wonder what the team feels it is able to accomplish in just a few short weeks.

“I don’t know what we’re capable of doing. We haven’t played a playoff game together,” James told reporters after Sunday’s game. “We got four guys from our championship team- myself, JR (Smith), Tristan (Thompson), Kev (Love)- we got some playoff experience. But you don’t know, it’s a new season.”

That’s very fair to say. Cleveland has been without key players such as Kevin Love, Rodney Hood, and Larry Nance Jr. throughout different periods of time over the last month and is now missing their head coach, Tyronn Lue. But eventually, time will come for these Cavs to show what they’re made of. And that time is coming sooner than most realize.

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