Cavaliers blowout Timberwolves 128-107 in De'Andre Hunter's debut

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - Monday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse the Cleveland Cavaliers welcomed the Minnesota Timberwolves (30-23, 15-11 road) to town. Cavaliers’ fans also gave a huge ovation to the newest Cavalier De’Andre Hunter as he was introduced in the starting lineup. Hunter was acquired by the Cavs at the trade deadline on Thursday when they sent Caris LeVert and Georges Niang to the Atlanta Hawks along with three second round draft picks. In their only previous meeting this season the Cavs defeated the Timberwolves 124-117 on January 18th in Minnesota at the Target Center. Monday night it was all Cavs as they cruised to a 128-107 win notching their third straight win and improving to 43-10 on the season and 25-4 at home.

There was a lid on the basket for the first couple of minutes of the game as the Cavs and T-Wolves combined 0 for 10 from the field. Finally, with 9:49 left on the clock Evan Mobley scored on a put back in the paint and was fouled. He missed the free throw, and the Cavs led 2-0. Mobley continued to be the only player on the court who could score as with 8:15 left he scored again the paint giving the Cavs a 6-0 lead. With 7:33 left in the quarter Donovan Mitchell decided that Mobley was having too much fun and got in the act giving the Cavs an 8-0 lead. The Cavalier’s defense was stifling in the first six minutes as the Cavs held the T-Wolves to 0-12 from the field and with 5:44 left the Cavs led 13-0. Then with 5:17 left Sam Merrill got in on the act and did what he does best, hitting a three-point basket giving the Cavs a 16-0 lead. Minnesota finally got on the board after Merrill fouled Rudy Goebert and Gobert hit one of two free throws, cutting the Cavs lead to 16-1. The only issue to that point was at the 5:31 mark of the opening quarter Hunter picked up his second foul and was taken out and replaced by Jaylon Tyson. With 2:51 left in the quarter Anthony Edwards cut the Cleveland lead to 24-8 when he drained a three from the top of the arc. Even though the score was lobsided fouls became an issue for the Cavs as Tyson picked up his third personal of the game. He exited and Luke Travers entered the game. It was easily the earliest game action that Travers had seen in his young NBA career. The quarter ended with the Cavs leading 30-12. Minnesota shot a pathetic 10% (2 of 210 from the field while the Cavs after missing their first six shot ended up shooting 52% (14 of 27). Mobley led all scorers with 10 first quarter points. Edwards led the T-Wolves with five points. The Cavs outrebounded Minnesota 17-10 in the first 12 minutes. Minnesota also turned over the ball five times resulting in four Cavs points.

With 9:53 left in the second quarter, the Cavs took a 40-16 lead when Hunter drained his first basket as a Cav, a three pointer and the crowd roared with joy welcoming the newest Cav. With 3:50 left in the quarter the Cavs lead was down to 52-36 after the T-Wolves went on a 20-12 run. The Cavs then went on a 24-8 run to end the half and lead 66-44. The Cavs shot 57% (27 of 47 from the field in the first half. The T-Wolves recovered in the second quarter and shot 54% (13 of 24) and finished the half shooting 33% (15 of 45). Mobley and Edward had 19 first half points to lead all scorers. The Cavs outrebounded the T-Wolves 25-18. The Cavs also had a large advantage shooting from long range as they shot 42% (8 of 19) and the T-Wolves struggled shooting 24% (5 of 21).

With 7:20 left in the third quarter the Cavs lead had shrunk to 78-63 as Minnesota was suddenly on fire from behind the three-point line shooting 3 of 3 in the quarter. The Cavs built their lead back up to 19 points with 3:38 left in the third when Ty Jerome was fouled by Jaylen Clark and he hit both free throws. Just 17 seconds later Merrill hit a three giving Cleveland a 93-73 lead. Minnesota called an immediate timeout. With :03.6 left in third Tyson hit a three to give the Cavs a 23 point lead and then with time running out Jerome stole the ball and hit a three giving the Cavs a 104-78 lead at the end of the third quarter. Edwards led all scorers with 37 points through three quarters. Mobley was leading the Cavs with 26 points. The T-Wolves did shoot better in the third quarter shooting 65% (13 of 20).

The game was decided with 7:06 left and Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson called a timeout, took out Mitchell, and inserted Craig Porter, Jr. With 4:28 left Tyson fouled out of the game and Merrill who had been taken out of the game reentered. The bench was cleared completely as Jarrett Allen, Darius Garland were replaced by Luke Travers and Tristan Thompson. Emoni Bates entered shortly thereafter to empty the bench. When the final buzzer sounded the Cavs secured their 43rd win of the season with resounding 128-107.

Edwards led all scorers with 44 points in a losing effort for the T-Wolves. Mobley led the Cavs with 28 points and 10 rebounds notching his 23rd double double of the season and 90th of his career. Allen also had a double double scoring 14 points and pulling down 13 rebounds completing his 29th double of the season and 218th of his career. The Cavs had six players including Mobley and Allen in double figures in scoring. Mitchell finished with 23, Garland had 17, Jerome tallied 15 and Hunter scored 12 points in his debuting shooting 3 of 7 from the field including 3 of 4 from long range. After getting foul trouble early and the fact the game became an early blowout he played only 23 minutes in his Cavs debut.

The Cavs have one more game before the all-star break as they travel to Toronto to take on the Raptors (16-37, 12-16 home). This will be the fourth meeting of the season between the two clubs. The Cavs have won the first three meetings by an average margin of 16.6 points per game. The Cavs also lead the all-time series 59-51, but the Raptors do lead the series all-time in Toronto 30-25. Game time on Wednesday will be 7:30 pm.