CLEVELAND, Ohio — Not much was pretty about the Cavaliers’ 94-87 win over the Thunder on Saturday.
Cleveland made just 18 of 35 free throws (51.4%) and six of 27 3-point attempts (22.2%). The Cavs committed 23 turnovers, costing themselves 20 points. They scored only 16 points in the fourth quarter, compared to 19 for the Thunder. The offense got bogged down, and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said after the game that their “approach was wrong.”
It’s amazing this game was a win at all for Cleveland (28-19), and it very well may have not been if not for the double-digit rebounding efforts of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.
Call it a Tower City miracle.
“I thought that (Mobley) and Jarrett were really competing to try to get us a win, and I think it started on the boards,” Bickerstaff said. “I thought both of those guys — coming out in the third quarter, and even Evan to start the game — I thought those guys came out with a purpose. I thought they were trying to do the right things to help us win the game. And they knew we had to win the defensive boards. We had the size advantage, so we had to take advantage of them there.”
Mobley finished with a career-high 17 rebounds, while Allen had 13. Both had double-doubles with 15 and 14 points, respectively.
In the opening 3:30 of the second half, Mobley played like a man possessed on the glass, grabbing six of his rebounds in that short spurt. For the game, Mobley also had more defensive rebounds (12) than Oklahoma City had offensive rebounds (11).
The rookie also recorded his 100th assist on Saturday, making Mobley just the second rookie in NBA history (Chris Webber) to have more than 570 points, 300-plus rebounds, at least 100 assists, 65-plus blocks and 30 or more steals while shooting better than 50% from the field through his first 39 career games.
But for Mobley, it was just another day at the office.
“I feel like I always try to get rebounds,” he said. “Me and Jarrett, it definitely plays a big role in our defense and finishing plays. Those rebounds definitely helped us down the stretch.”
Coming into this game, the Cavs knew their effort on the glass may have to look a little different.
Oklahoma City shoots a lot of 3-pointers, averaging 37.4 attempts per game, eighth in the league. As a result, there’s a lot of long rebounds up for grabs — something Bickerstaff even pointed out as a scouting report emphasis for Cleveland in his pregame press conference.
While Darius Garland said postgame that the guards also bear responsibility for cleaning some of those up, he added that Mobley and Allen’s effort was instrumental in the Cavs’ offense.
“We got out in transition a lot more,” Garland said. “It was a lot of long rebounds, so I take responsibility for that and the guards do as well. But anything around their area, I have full confidence that they’re gonna go get it. So just their effort and their play tonight helped us get the win for sure.”
A win is still a win in the NBA, no matter how ugly. But as the Cavs (currently in fifth place in the Eastern Conference) continue to ascend the NBA ranks, they know there’s plenty they need to correct from this one.
They’ll have to clean up those mistakes as well as Allen and Mobley clean up missed shots.
“There’s games like this where if you lose these games, you’re looking back in April, and they matter,” Bickerstaff said. “At the end of the year, when teams are competing for playoff positioning it’s like that mad dash, and everybody’s focused on the right now. But the good teams, they take care of business when they’re supposed to, and then they don’t have to look back and they don’t have to make that mad dash, because they just continue to be who they are.
“And again, we are young, and we are learning. And for all of us, sometimes it can be frustrating. But we’re fortunate to get a win tonight.”
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