Cavaliers outplayed by hungry Trail Blazers 122-110
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Cleveland Cavaliers (13-10, 8-5 home welcomed the Portland Trail Blazers (9-13, 6-7 road) to Rocket Arena on Wednesday night. The Cavs were coming off a 135-119 win in Indiana on Monday night.
The Cavs were healthier than they were on Monday night as Darius Garland and Lonzo Ball returned from having the night off for injury management. Jarrett Allen was still out with his finger injury. The result was the same as it had been nine other times this season as the Trail Blazers without much resistance beat the Cavs 122-110. Portland outscored the Cavs 119-100 after the Cavs led 10-3 1:56 into the game.
The Cavs got off to a nice start jumping out to a 12-5 lead when Donovan Mitchell hit Evan Mobley in the paint for a dunk with 9:44 left in the opening quarter. The Cavs then took a 15-7 Mobley hit a three with 9:11 left Trail Blazers interim head coach Tiago Splitter took a timeout. The timeout did the trick as over the next couple of minutes the Blazers trimmed the Cavs lead to 19-17 with 7:09 remining. The game remained close as the Cavs led 24-21 with 6:19 left when Mobley was fouled and hit both free throws. With the Cavs up 24-21 and 5:10 left in the quarter Garland picked up his third foul when he fouled Toumani Camara and the Cavs lead was cut to one point at 24-23. The Cavs went on a quick 7-0 run to take a 31-23 lead with 3:25 left when Mitchell hit a three from in front of the Cleveland bench. The Blazers then cut the Cavs lead back to one at 31-30 and then took their first lead of the game with 1:16 left when Caleb Love hit a three from the top of the arc. The Cavs tied the game 33-33 when Dean Wade hit Thomas Braynt in the paint, but at the other end the Cavs’ perimeter defense failed once again as Love hit another three giving Portland a 36-33 lead after one quarter. Mitchell led all scorers with 14 first quarter points. Love and Camara were leading the Blazers with six points each. The Cavs shot 52% (13 of 25) from the field in the opening quarter while the Blazers shot 48% (12 of 25). The Blazers outshot the Cavs from long range 43% (3 of 7) to 33% (4 of 12). The battle of the boards was even in the opening quarter as each team pulled down 12 rebounds.
With the Blazers up 40-35 with 10:50 left Nae’Qwan Tomlin was called for a foul on Donovan Clingan when it was Clingan that clearly pushed Tomlin to the floor fighting for a rebound. The Cavs did not allow the adversity to get them and scored the next eight points to take a 43-40 lead with 8:43 left when Mobley hit a 10-foot jumper. With 6:08 remaining the Blazers retook the lead when Shaedon Sharpe drove the lane uncontested and make the score 44-43. What seemed apparent with 4:32 left in the second quarter was that the Blazers wanted the game more than the Cavs. Cleveland seemed to have a very lackluster approach. The Blazers took a 48-43 lead. As the half closed Cleveland’s matador defense and lack of rebounding in the second quarter led to the Blazers taking a double-digit lead into the locker room 68-58. The second quarter was ugly as the Cavs 40% (10 of 25) from the field and that was the only positive as everything else was bad. Cleveland went 3 of 11 (27%) from long range. They committed seven personal fouls sending the Blazers to the free throw line 13 times resulting in 12 points. Finally, the Cleveland rebounding effort that looked good in the first quarter completely vanished in the second period as they were outrebounded 19-9 by the younger, more hungry Blazers team. Mitchell led all scorers with 19 first half points. Deni Avdija led the Blazers with 17.
As has been the case for most of the season the Blazers came out in the second half the more physical team. With 7:48 left the Blazers lead was 16 and the Cavs looked a mess and the sellout crowd “Let Em Know” as boos rained down as Kenny Atkinson took a timeout. As the timeout was called Garland was whistled for a technical foul while sitting on the bench with four personal fouls. With just under three minutes left in the quarter Thomas Bryant ignited a fire as he blocked Duop Reath’s and then was fouled at the other end, he hit one of two free throws to cut the Blazers lead to 10 points with 3:47 remaining in the third. Mitchell then cut the Portland lead to 84-76 when he was fouled and hit both free throws with 3:18 left. With 1:31 left the Cavs cut the Blazers lead to 91-82 when Bryant hit his third three of the contest, but Portland could not be stopped by the Cavs defense as the third quarter ended that Cavs had surrendered 99 points and trailed 99-85 heading into the final 12 minutes. Mitchell was leading all scorers with 25, Sharpe was pacing Portland with 18 through three. The Blazers had five players in double figures while the Cavs had three.
As the third quarter began and it seemed inevitable that the Cavs would fall to the Blazers it was time to award the Danny Ainge Crybaby Award to a deserving Portland player. This one as it usually is was easy as Jerami Grant was tonight’s winner. Grant cried and complained nearly every trip down the floor whether it was on offense or defense whether the Blazer were guilty of a call or the call went in their favor. Congratulations to tonight’s winner. With 6:40 left the Cavs cut the Portland lead to 10 points on a three by Ball. The Portland lead was then down to single digits at 109-101 when Bryant was fouled and hit both free throws. With 3:59 left on the clock Portland took a timeout with an eight point lead. After the timeout, the Cavs forced a 24 second violation but could not take advantage at the other end. Mitchell then picked up his third foul of the night and Sharpe hit two free throws to extend the Portland lead back to double digits at 113-103 with 3:2-0 remaining. With 3:09 left Hunter was fouled, and the Cavs cut the Portland lead to eight points again. With 2:38 left Mobley hit a three and the Cavs deficit was at five points. As it has been many times this season it was too little too late and the Blazers handed the Cavs their tenth loss of the season. Last year the Cavs did not lose their tenth game until February 4th.
Mitchell led all scorers in the loss with 33 points. Mobley had a double with 23 points and 10 boards, that was about it from the Cavs. Garland finished with six points and was in foul trouble all night playing only 29 minutes. Avdija led the Portland effort with 27 points. Sharpe and Love also had 20 points each. Clingan pulled down 13 boards leading everyone in the game in that category. The Cavs were once again outrebounded, this time 54-45.
The Cavs will be back in action on Friday night when the San Antonio Spurs visit Rocket Arena. The Spurs lead the all-time series with the Cavs 66-42, but the Cavs do lead at home (Richfield Coliseum, Rocket Arena) 30-25. The Cavs swept the Spurs last season and have won the last five meetings between the two clubs. .
POSTED 12/03/2025 21:55
Lake County Sentinel
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Cavs Donovan Mitchell and Nae'Qwan Tomlin have a discussion during the Cavs 122-110 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night at Rocket Arena. Photo by Tommy Shirer
