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. 
Follow us on Twitter @SportsSentinel Check out our Cavaliers fan page Taitville 
​POSTED 02/10/2025 22:10
HomeCommunity InformationEditorialNews ArchivesSports

Lake County Sentinel
Healthy Celtics easily defeat shorthanded Cavaliers 112-105 - 02-04-2025
Cavaliers humiliate stunned Mavericks 144-101 - 02-02-2025
Cavaliers blowout Johnson less Hawks 137-115 - 01-30-2025
Cavaliers end their skid with 110-91 win over Bickerstaff's Pistons - 01-27-2025
Cavaliers lose third straight, shot down by Rockets 135-131 01-25-2025
Cavaliers extinguish the Suns 118-92 - 01-20-2025
Cavaliers win streak ends with 108-93 loss to Pacers - 01-12-2025
Cavaliers hold off pesky Raptors 132-126 for 12th straight win - 01-09-2025
Cavaliers silence Thunder to maintain best record in the NBA 129-122 - 01-08-2025
Cavaliers cruise to tenth straight win stopping Hornets 115-105 - 01-05-2025
Cavaliers silence the Jazz 124-113 - 12-23-2024
Cavaliers run over Bucks 124-101 - 12-20-2024
Cavaliers outlast Wizards in an ugly game 115-105 - 12-13-2024
Cavaliers dispatch Jokic and the Nuggets 126-114 - 12-05-2024
Cavaliers blow out Wizards 118-87 - 12-03-2024
Cavaliers prove they can play with Celtics and win 115-111 - 12-01-2024
Cavaliers dive bombed by Hawks 135-124, sending Cavs to first home loss - 12-01-2024
Cavaliers hold off Raptors 122-108 to move to 17-1 - 11-24-2024
Shorthanded Cavaliers get back on track with blow out of Pelicans 128-100 - 11-20-2024
Cavaliers hold off Bulls to run record win streak to 14 games - 11-15-2024
Cavaliers extend win streak to 11 with 105-100 win over Nets 11-09-2024
Cavaliers manhandle full strength Warriors 136-117 - 11-08-2024
Cavaliers match franchise record 8-0 start with 116-114 win over Bucks - 11-04-2024
Cavaliers blow out LeBron, Bronny and the Lakers 134-110 - 10-30-2024
Cavaliers advance to Eastern Conference semifinals after defeating Magic 106-94 in game 7 - 05-05-2024
Cavaliers take 2-0 series lead, winning physical game two 96-86 - 04-22-2024
Cavaliers take 1-0 series lead with 97-83 win over Magic - 04-20-2024
Cavaliers drop regular season finale 120-110 - 04-14-2024
Cavaliers clinch playoff berth with 129-120 win over Pacers - 04-12-2024
Mistakes are costly in Cavaliers 107-104 loss to Miami - 03-20-2024
Shorthanded Cavaliers eclipsed by Suns 117-111 -03-11-2024
Cavaliers honor four greats, then get blown out by Nets 120-101 - 03-10-2024
Dean Wade and the Cavaliers snap Celtics 11 game win streak 105-104 - 03-05-2024
Cavaliers can't get over the hump, fall to Knicks again 107-98 - 03-03-2024
Max Strus pulls off a miracle as Cavaliers stun Mavs 121-119 - 02-27-2024
Mitchell less Cavaliers fall to Magic 116-109 - 02-22-2024
Cavaliers edge Bulls with late heroics 108-105 - 02-14-2024
Cavaliers win streak ends at nine with 123-121 loss to Sixers - 02-12-2024
Cavaliers move into 2nd place in the East after blowing out Kings 136-110 - 02-05-2024
Cavaliers squeak past Pistons 128-121 - 01-31-2024
Cavaliers sink the Clippers 118-108 - 01-29-2024
Cavaliers blow out Bucks 135-95 - 01-17-2024
Cavaliers complete two game sweep of Wizards 114-90 01-05-2024
Cavaliers dominate Wizards 140-101 - 01-03-2024
Cavaliers unable to overcome long range shooting trouble and officials in 119-111 loss to the Bucks - 12-29-2023
Cavaliers run out of steam in 123-104 loss to Pelicans - 12-21-2023
Shorthanded Cavaliers shoot down Hawks 127-119 - 12-16-2023
Cavaliers outplayed by Blazers in terrible 103-95 loss - 11-30-2023
Cavaliers dominate Trae Young's Hawks 128-105 - 11-28-2023
Cavaliers scorched by Heat 129-96 - 11-22-2023
Cavaliers dominate World Champion Nuggets 121-109 - 11-19-2023
Cavaliers cruise past error prone Pistons 108-100 - 11-17-2023
Cavaliers end the Warriors road winning streak 115-104 - 11-05-2023
Shorthanded Cavaliers lose second straight in 125-113 loss to Pacers - 10-28-2023
Cavaliers lose home opener to Thunder 108-105 - 10-27-2023
Cavaliers eliminated by Knicks in five games 4-1 - 04-26-2023
Cavaliers even series 1-1 with dominating 107-90 win over Knicks - 04-18-2023
Cavaliers simply outplayed by Knicks in game one 101-97 - 04-15-2023
Cavaliers comeback late to stop Pacers 115-105 - 04-02-2023
Cavaliers sloppiness on offense and lack of defense costly in 130-116 loss to Knicks - 03-31-2023
Cavaliers clinch first playoff berth since 2017-18 with 108-91 win over Houston - 03-26-2023
Cavaliers glide past Wizards 117-94 - 03-17-2023
Cavaliers victim of terrible overturned call in 118-109 loss to Philly - 03-15-2023
Lamar Stevens late heroics lead Cavs to 118-114 win over Celtics in OT - 03-06-2023
Cavaliers end skid with resounding 118-93 win over Toronto - 03-04-2023
Cavaliers fall to Nuggets from long range 115-109 - 02-23-2023
Cavaliers win seventh straight holding of Spurs 117-108 - 02-23-2023
Cavaliers win sixth straight, coming from behind to stop Bulls 97-89 - 02-11-2023
Cavaliers pound Pistons late 113-85 - 02-08-2023
Cavaliers turnovers costly in 100-97 loss to Heat - 01-31-2023
Cavaliers blow out Clippers 122-99 - 01-29-2023
Cavaliers end two game skid with 114-102 win over Bucks - 01-21-2023
Cavaliers completely embarrassed by severely shorthanded Warriors 120-114 - 01-20-2023
Cavs comeback late to stop Pelicans behind Garland's 30, 113-103 - 01-16-2023
LeVert, Neto, Osman come up big in Cavs 90-88 win over Suns - 01-02-2023
Donovan Mitchell joins NBA elite scoring 71 in Cavs 145-134 OT win over Bulls - 01-02-2023
Cavaliers fall to Durant's Nets 125-117 - 12-26-2022
Cavaliers stop Bucks 114-106, move to within 1 game of the top spot in East - 12-21-2022
Cavaliers struggle but pull out 118-112 win over Pacers - 12-16-2022
Cavaliers too much for the Wagner's of Orlando 107-96 - 12-02-2022
Shorthanded Cavaliers humiliate 76ers 113-85 - 11-30-2022
Cavs shoot down Hawks 114-102 - 11-21-2022
Cavs dominate shorthanded Heat 113-87 - 11-20-2022
Cavs end skid with 132-122 double overtime win - 11-18-2022
Cavs use late surge to win stop Knicks 121-108 - 10-30-2022
Cavs win third straight defeating the Magic 103-92 - 10-26-2022
Cavs prevail in home opener 117-107 in overtime - 10-26-2022

The Cavaliers De'Andre Hunter (12) drains a three in the third quarter in his Cavaliers debut.  The Cavs beat the Timberwolves 128-107.
                                                                                             Photo by Tommy Shirer