Cavaliers fourth quarter surge fuels win over Mavs 98-87
BY STONE LEXINGTON
CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER
After nearly an entire NBA season filled with controversy, injuries, team meetings, friction and absences, the Cleveland Cavaliers have nearly reached the long-awaited playoffs. The Cavs have five games remaining on their regular season schedule, and the primary focus for the team is making sure they’re healthy when the postseason arrives.
The Cavs were without only two players for Sunday’s midday contest with the Dallas Mavericks, as George Hill has a sprained ankle and shooting guard Kyle Korver continues to nurse a sore right foot.
“I don’t know how bad it is,” Acting head coach Larry Drew said said of Korver, who was on the Cavs bench in a suit on Sunday. “I was just told that the foot was still a little sore. We just felt giving him a couple games off would help him.”
Despite missing one of the best shooters in the league and their starting point guard, the Cavs held on to defeat the Lottery-bound Mavericks 98-87 in Quicken Loans Arena. The win was Cleveland’s sixth in their last seven meetings against Dallas (23-54).
LeBron James recorded his 17th triple-double of the season and 72nd of his career with 16 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists. J.R. Smith chipped-in 15 points, Jordan Clarkson added 16 points and Kevin Love totaled his 30th double-double of the season with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Love’s double-double was also the 400th of his career, allowing him to become just the seventh-active player to achieve the latter feat.
“It wasn’t a typical LeBron game, but the fact that we were still able to come out with a win,” Drew said. “When the game was on the line, he put it on his shoulders once again. He came up with some big plays and big shots down the stretch.”
The Cavs (47-30) pushed their record to 8-1 in their last nine games and seem to be playing solid basketball at the most important time of the year. Throughout much of the game against the Mavs, however, the Cavs didn’t look like a championship contender. It’s certainly possible they were coasting against an inferior opponent, too.
Cleveland trailed 18-25 after the first quarter, had a slim 48-47 lead at halftime and trailed again 73-77 heading into the fourth quarter. The Cavs struggled so much through three-plus quarters, they didn’t regain a lead until Clarkson converted a jumpshot plus the foul that gave Cleveland an 83-81 lead with 8:37 to play. The Cavs immediately put together seven more straight points, capped by a James three-pointer that put Cleveland up 90-83 with less than six minutes to play. Back-to-back James and Love threes a few minutes later iced the game.
“Yeah, I was very concerned,” Drew said of his team’s play through three quarters. “We could never get into a rhythm.”
With just five games to play in the regular season, the Cavs are gearing up to make a run to a fourth consecutive NBA Finals. Whether they can make it there after a season of turmoil remains to be seen.
POSTED 04/01/2018 21:32
Lake County Sentinel
Photo by Greg Goth
