Cavaliers extend win streak to ten in overtime 133-129

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - Sunday night the Cleveland Cavaliers (49-10, 27-4 home) were coming off possibly their biggest win of the season over the Boston Celtics on Friday night at TD Bank Garden in Boston recovering from a 22 point first quarter deficit to win 123-116. They welcomed the Portland Trail Blazers (27-33, 11-19 road) to Rocket Arena. The Cavs winners of nine in a row were without Donovan Mitchell who had played extended minutes on Friday night and had the night off to rest. They missed Mitchell as the Blazers did not look like a team with their record as they took the Cavs to overtime before the Cavs prevailed 133-129 to extend their winning streak to 10 games.

The Trail Blazers started off quickly jumping out to an 8-2 lead with 8:59 left when Shaedon Sharpe drained a three on a nice assist from rookie Donovan Clingan. With 4:04 left in the quarter, the Cavs trimmed the Portland lead to 18-16 when Ty Jerome hit a three. The Cavs took their first lead of the game with 1:08 left when Sam Merrill drained a three. There was some confusion in the Rocket Arena as the scoreboard was malfunctioning and the scoreboard was stuck on 23-18 Trail Blazers for several minutes. The scoreboard issue was resolved and as the Blazers scored the next for points and the quarter ended with Portland leading 27-24. Sharpe was leading all scorers with seven first quarter points. Darius Garland led Cleveland with five first quarter points. The Blazers shot 53% (10 of 19) in the first quarter while the Cavs for the second consecutive game got off to a poor shooting start hitting only 33% (8 of 24) in the first 12 minutes.

With 7:55 left in the second quarter Evan Mobley scored driving to the basket and was fouled by Clingan. The play was reviewed to see if Clingan, who belted Mobley on the top of the head was flagrant. After reviewing it was found to be a common foul. Mobley hit the free throw, and the Cavs led 34-31. With 5:15 left in the half Allen slammed home a dunk on a nice assist from Craig Porter, Jr giving the Cavs a 40-37 advantage. With 4:21 left, Scoot Henderson hit a three for Portland and tied the game 42-42. The Cavs took a timeout. Immediately after the timeout Porter turned the ball over and Toumani Camara was fouled by Max Strus. Camara hit both free throws to give Portland a 44-42 lead with 4:04 left in the opening half. The Portland lead grew to 47-42 when Duop Reath hit a three with 3:40 remaining. The Blazers run continued as they took a 52-42 lead with 2:21 left when Camara hit a three. With 1:19 left in the second quarter the Cavs looked like they might be in some trouble as Mobley picked up his third foul of the game. With :30.2 left the Trail Blazers lead ballooned to 54-42 after another Cavs turnover, their 10th in the first half resulting in seven Blazers points. Camara led all scorers with 12 points. Mobley paced the Cavs with eight first half points. The Cavs shot just 33% (15 of 46) while the Blazers shot 44% (19 of 43).

With the Cavs still down 10 points and 10:41 left in the third period Mobley picked up his fourth foul of the game. The Trail Blazers were starting to pull away with 10:11 left as they extended their lead to 58-44. Atkinson called a timeout to try and figure it out. With 9:32 eft Garland was called for a questionable foul in the paint. After Deni Avdija made both free throws the Cavs trailed 61-44. With 8:32 left and the Cavs were once again charged with a personal foul. Strus was charged this time with the foul. The Cavs challenged it at the urging of Strus. The call made by none other than Natalie Sago (Angel Hernandez of the NBA) was not overturned by the folks in the NBA review center even though it was obvious Strus made no contact with the shooter. The bad call seemed to spur the Cavs on as they scored six straight to close the gap to seven points at 63-56 with 7:45 left after a three by Strus. With 6:55 left another questionable foul against the Cavs. This time it was De’Andre Hunter, and the fouls were very lobsided at the point where the Cavs had been called for 15 and the Blazers just 8. With 6:04 left and a rare foul called on the Blazers, the Cavs cut the lead to 71-60 when Hunter hit one of two free throws. The game was quickly turning into the Natalie Sago show and she loved it as she quickly called a technical foul on Hunter. It was apparent in the third period that the Cavaliers had more than one opponent today. Even though Sago & Company were making it tough the Cavs cut the Blazers lead to 11 points at 82-71 with 2:49 left in the third quarter when Garland hit a three. Blazers coach Chauncey Billups called an immediate timeout. After Portland extended the lead back to 18 Jerome was fouled and hit both free throws cutting the Blazers lead to 89-73 with 1:16 left. Dean Wade then hit a three on courtesy of an assist from Garland and the Blazers lead was 89-76 with :52 left in the third. As the quarter ended Jerome drained a three and the Blazers lead was 89-79. Avdija led all scorers with 22 after three quarters including a ridiculous 11 for 11 from the free throw line to that point. Jerome was pacing the Cavs with 18 points through three, The Blazers were shooting 44% (28 of 64) while the Cavs were shooting 38% (26 of 69). Through three the Blazers shot 26 free throws while the Cavs shot just 16.

With 9:21 left in the fourth quarter the Cavs cut the lead to 91-88 when Merrill hit a three. With 8:11 left Merrill drained another three and the Cavs were on a 22-5 run to cut the Blazers lead to 94-93. Halfway through the quarter the Cavs continued to cut the Blazers lead to a single point and the Blazers responded. Then with 5:43 left Hunter hit a three and tied the game 101-101. Then with 4:55 left Hunter gave the Cavs a 104-103 lead with another three. Just 11 seconds later Mobley committed his fifth foul and the Blazers led 106-104. With 3:21 left Mobley scored in the paint on an assist from Jerome to give the Cavs a 110-109 lead. He was fouled on the play. After the Blazers took a timeout Mobley missed the free throw and the Cavs lead remained at one point. After the Blazers failed to score on their next possession, Mobley was fouled. He was fouled by Clingan and that was his sixth. Mobley hit both and the Cavs led 112-109 with 2:48 left. With 1:31 left the Blazers tied the game 113-113. With 1:14 left Mobley drove the lane and was charged with his sixth personal foul. It was reviewed to determine if it was flagrant, it was not, but Mobley had fouled out of the contest. After the Blazers failed on their next possession Jerome scored with :44.1 left, giving the Cavs a 115-113 lead. With :31 left Sharpe tied the game 115-115. But with :15.4 left Strus drained a three from in front of the Cleveland bench, igniting the Cavs bench but the 19,562 in attendance as the Cavs led 118-115. Atkinson used the same strategy as he did earlier in the season by fouling the Blazers with little time left so they could not hit three pointers. Anfernee Simons hit both free throws and the Cleveland lead was 118-117 with :12.9 left in regulation. The Blazers immediately fouled Garland which turned out to be the good move with :08.7 left as Garland only hit 1 of 2 to give the Cavs a 119-117 lead. At the other end Strus was called for a foul in the paint. It appeared on replay that Strus did not even make contact with Simons. He both free throws and the game was tied with :01.1 left the costly bad call was made by Jenna Schroeder. The game was going to overtime.

As overtime began the Cavs won the tip and Strus wasted no time draining a three. On the next possession Hunter was fouled by Sharpe with 4:10 remaining. He hit both free throws and the Cavs led 124-119. With 2:19 left what else but another foul call after the free throw the Blazers cut the Cavs lead to 126-124. With 1:23 left the Blazers tied the game 126-126. After both teams turned the ball over Hunter drove the lane and was fouled with :57.9 left. He hit both free throws and the Cavs led 128-126. Then with :44.0 left the Blazers took a 129-128 lead on a three by Simons. Just 13.1 second later Hunter drained a three with :30.8 left and gave the Cavs a 131-129 lead. Hunter had 30 points. The Trail Blazers called an immediate timeout. After the Blazers failed to score and the Cavs turned it over the Cavs got the rebound with :04.0 left and Hunter was fouled. He hit both free throws, sealing the Cavs 133-129 comeback win.

Hunter led all scorers with 32 points. The Cavs had three players with 20+ points including Jerome who had 25 points and Mobley who finished with 20. Avdija led the Blazers with 30 in a losing effort.

Shooting from the field was a struggle for the Cavs through three quarters as they had shot 38% (26 of 69). Things changed in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Cavs shot 57% (16 of 28) and finished at 43% (42 of 97) for the game. The Blazers finished nearly identical at 44% (42 of 96). The free throw edge through three quarters also belonged to the Blazers as they had shot 26 free throws to the Cavs 16. In the final 17 minutes (4th quarter and OT) the Cavs went to the free throw line 19 times, hitting 15, finishing 30 of 35 on the day. The Blazers ended up shooting 35 free throws converting 31. The difference in the game ended up being from long range as the Cavs shot 41% (19 of 46) and the Blazers managed to shoot 35% (14 of 40).

The Cavs will be in action next on Tuesday night in Chicago to take on the Bulls (24-36, 11-21 home) at 8 pm at the United Center. This will be the third meeting between the two teams this season, the Cavs have won the first two.