On an eight-game winning streak with consecutive victories on their current road swing, the Cleveland Cavaliers will return to the same building Monday when they pay a visit to the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Cavs pulled off an impressive 114-100 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday afternoon when Donovan Mitchell scored 33 points and put a charge in Cleveland’s dominating second half.
The Cavs held the Lakers to 36 second-half points and won after trailing 80-77 with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter. Cleveland’s 17-0 run that extended nearly two minutes into the fourth quarter was the difference.
“That wasn’t who we are,” Mitchell said on the Bally Sports Cleveland broadcast about a six-point halftime deficit. “It’s never going to be perfect. That’s going to happen, but it’s how you respond through adversity. … Coming out the way we did to start the fourth, that’s big time.”
Mitchell now has 251 total points this season and became the third player with at least 250 points in eight games for his new team, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Wilt Chamberlain (317 points) with the Philadelphia Warriors and Kyrie Irving (255) with the Brooklyn Nets also accomplished the feat.
Daruis Garland had 24 points for Cleveland, while Jarrett Allen (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Kevin Love (10 points, 10 rebounds) each had a double-double. Garland (knee) and Mitchell (ankle) each played after not taking the court Friday in a victory at Detroit.
The Cavs are in a stretch where they play six of seven games on the road and visit Sacramento and Golden State once they leave Los Angeles.
The Clippers also played Sunday in Los Angeles, although they will have less of a rest than the Cavs, who played the Lakers in the afternoon. The Clippers faced the Utah Jazz in the same building Sunday night and dropped a 110-102 decision.
Paul George started blazing hot with a 15-point first quarter but added just 19 more the rest of the way. The Clippers lost for the first time in four games where George has scored at least 30.
Clippers star forward Kawhi Leonard missed his seventh consecutive game, with George doing all he can to pick up the slack. Over the last four games, George has averaged 32.3 points.
Los Angeles also was without sharpshooter Luke Kennard (chest), while Reggie Jackson left Sunday’s game with a knee contusion. George and Marcus Morris Sr. ended up playing 38 minutes each.
“I thought Paul and Marcus got tired playing too many minutes,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said. “I should have helped P.G. out with a couple of more minutes (of rest) in that fourth quarter if I could have. So that is on me. … But when you’re short-handed, you have to muster it up the best way you can.”
The Clippers were outscored 26-17 in the fourth quarter against the Jazz as their three-game winning streak came to an end. Los Angeles was 0 of 11 from 3-point range in the fourth. It also had 14 turnovers that led to 26 Utah points.
Lue said before Sunday’s game that Leonard is heading in the right direction with his recovery from his ongoing knee issue but no timetable for a return was revealed.
–Field Level Media