2 weeks Ago By Field Level Media
Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points, Jarrett Allen went 10-for-10 from the floor en route to 23 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a 135-116 rout of the host Washington Wizards on Saturday night. Allen and Darius Garland, who made 9 of 11 shots on the way to 23 points, headlined a 53.4 percent effort from the floor for Cleveland, which has won its first three games of the new season.
The Cavaliers also canned 18 of 39 triples (46.2 percent), with Mitchell knocking down six, Garland hitting four and Sam Merrill sinking three. Merrill finished with 11 points, while fellow reserves Ty Jerome (14 points) and Caris LeVert (10) also scored in double figures.
Evan Mobley recorded a double-double, posting 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for Cleveland. Bilal Coulibaly paced Washington with 23 points and six boards. Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole each chipped in 14 points, but Kuzma struggled mightily, shooting 3-for-16 overall.
The Wizards shot 38.5 percent from the field and 34.9 percent from deep.
No. 2 overall pick Alexandre Sarr added 12 points in his second NBA game, while Corey Kispert and Jonas Valanciunas scored 10 apiece off the bench. Kuzma threw home a dunk just 10 seconds into the second half to get Washington within 59-55, but the Cavaliers took over from there.
They scored the next 12 points, five of which came from Mitchell, to open up a 71-55 cushion with 7:33 left in the third quarter. Cleveland went on to lead by as many as 20 in the third and took a 97-81 advantage into the fourth, where Mitchell went for 13 points and Jerome put up 12 to help put the game away. A trey from LeVert gave the Cavaliers a 48-35 lead with 3:34 left in the second quarter, but the Wizards had their deficit down to six, 59-53, at the break after Valanciunas converted a putback just before the halftime buzzer sounded.
Garland collected 10 points in the first quarter to give Cleveland a 28-25 edge. This article first appeared on Field Level Media and was syndicated with permission..
