The Cavs continued their road trip, playing the first of three games in Texas, as they took on the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday night. Dallas gave the Cavs a great fight, but the Wine and Gold prevailed, winning in overtime 110-107, to extend their win-streak to eight games.
The Wine and Gold started out sluggish, trailing 23-7 midway through the first quarter, but went on a 15-0 run to get the game back in reach.
The Cavs shot poorly for the second game in a row, shooting just 34 percent through the first two quarters, but their three-point shooting kept them in the game, hitting eight threes in the first half to trail the Mavericks 52-47 at halftime.
Cleveland kept pace in the third quarter, but the Mavericks stayed hot, shooting above 50 percent through the game to lead 62-57 heading into the fourth.
Matthew Dellavedova would finally tie the game one minute into the fourth quarter, knocking down his fourth three-pointer of the night to make it 72 apiece.
The Cavs would grab the lead briefly, thanks to a three from Kyrie Irving, but Dallas and Cleveland would go back and forth for the next four minutes, until Kevin Love drained a clutch, wide open jumper from beyond the arc to put the Cavs ahead 82-81 with 6:48 to play.
Dallas would take a timeout and reclaim the lead momentarily, before Irving knocked down another big three.
The Cavs would finally have a two possession lead with just over four minutes to play, after Iman Shumpert drove to the hoop for an easy layup to make it 89-85.
Wesley Matthews would hit two three-pointers in a row to put the Mavericks up 91-89 with just under two minutes to play. Irving would hit a pair of clutch free throws to tie the game at 91 with 1:41 remaining.
Matthews drew contact from J.R. Smith and hit both his free throws with 1:21 on the clock and make it 93-91 in favor of Dallas.
LeBron James, who was scoreless in the first 11 minutes of the fourth quarter, knocked down two clutch free throws to tie the game at 93 with 39 seconds to play. LeBron made 5-of-6 free throws on the night, an area he has improved since struggling to start the season.
Deron Williams hit his biggest bucket of the night on the next possession, driving to the hoop and making a contested layup over Tristan Thompson, to put the Mavericks ahead 95-93 with 28 seconds on the clock.
The Cavs called a timeout and let LeBron go to work. James did not disappoint, going full head of steam to the basket, throwing down a vicious dunk with 20 seconds to go and tie the game at 95. LeBron thought he was fouled, but did not get the whistle.
The Mavericks took a timeout and had the ball at half court with 20 seconds left. They inbounded to their centerpiece Dirk Nowitzki, who tried to get a turnaround fade away jumper off, but was stripped by Shumpert. The Cavs would get the ball and call timeout, but could not get a shot off after the inbound, and the game headed to overtime tied at 95.
LeBron missed a three on the first attempt of the Overtime period, while Nowitzki came right back on the other end and knocked one down to make it 98-95.
Love would respond with a triple of his own to tie it at 98.
Williams would hit two big free throws to make it 100-98 with three minutes left.
Love would tie it up on the next possession with a great post move and took advantage of a mismatch.
Dirk answered back with a three to make it 103-100.
LeBron and Kyrie would score four quick points for the Cavs to put Cleveland on top 104-103 with 1:32 to play in OT.
Chandler Parsons would score off of an offensive rebound and make it 105-104 Mavericks with 1:10 to play. Parsons scored 25 points on the night.
LeBron came right back and laid it up and in to make it 106-105 Cavs.
Williams missed a three-point attempt, LeBron killed some clock, dished it to Irving, who was well beyond the three-point line, and knocked it down, coolly to make it 109-105 with 13 seconds left.
Whatever hope the Mavericks had left was erased by Shumpert grabbing another clutch steal, and the Cavs would finish it off, winning 110-107 in overtime.
Next up for the Cavs, they head to San Antonio to face the Spurs on Thursday, who are unbeaten at home and riding a nine-game win-streak.
Mozgov Makes His Presence Felt
Center Timofey Mozgov had a great game off the bench, putting up ten points and nine rebounds in 20 minutes of action, but even more impressive was his plus/minus ratio. While the Cavs’ starters were all in the negatives for most of the game, Mozgov had a rating of +18, which was second-best of any player in the game, behind Dellavedova’s +21. The best plus/minus ratio of any of the Cavs’ starting five was Smith with +3.
Livin’ By the 3
The Cavs shot poorly from the field overall, but hit 17 three-pointers on the night to keep them in the game. Dellavedova hit four, LeBron, Love, and Irving knocked down three, while Smith and Shumpert each hit two.
Balanced Scoring
The Cavs received balanced contributions from their bench and starting five, as seven Cavs were in double-figures. LeBron led the way with 27 points, while Irving was right behind him with 22.
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