When the Cavaliers have it rolling like they do right now – with the Big Three doing the heavy lifting and the bench doing the dirty work – there may not be a road trip long enough to slow them down.
As the six-game, 10-day junket took its Texas turn, the Cavaliers overcame a slow start, eventually taking the Mavericks to overtime and delivering the dagger when they got there – with Kyrie Irving drilling a 27-foot bomb with 13.8 to play, giving Cleveland a two-possession lead and enough room to hold off Dallas for the 110-107 win – their eighth straight.
Seven minutes into Tuesday’s contest, the Mavericks had run out to a 16-point lead and it looked like the trip was finally starting to get the better of the Wine and Gold, which didn’t lead at any point during the first three quarters. But the Cavs continued to chip away and less than a minute into the fourth, Matthew Dellavedova’s trey tied the game at 72-apiece and Kyrie’s triple one minute later gave them their first advantage of the night.
The two squads went back and forth through the final period before LeBron James tied the game at 95 on a massive right-handed dunk with 20.9 to play. On Dallas’ last possession, Iman Shumpert switched on to Dirk Nowitzki and was able to strip the future Hall of Famer before he could load up a jumper.
Dirk would go on to drill a triple to begin the overtime period, but Kevin Love answered with one of his own on Cleveland’s next possession. After Chandler Parsons gave Dallas a one-point edge with 1:10 remaining in OT, LeBron scored on a layup to take the lead back. After a Deron Williams’ miss on the Mavs next possession, LeBron found Irving – who canned the clutch trey to seal the deal.
LeBron led everyone with 27 points, going 9-for-17 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from long-range, doubling-up with 10 boards to go with seven assists and a pair of steals.
Kyrie overcame a slow start to net eight of his 22 points in the fourth quarter – finishing 8-of-20 from the floor and leading Cleveland with nine assists.
Kevin Love notched his second straight double-double with 15 points and a team-high 11 boards adding a pair of blocked shots.
The Big Three combined to score all 15 of the Cavaliers’ points in overtime, but Cleveland’s bench helped them get to the bonus round on Tuesday night.
Matthew Dellavedova finished with 12 points, going 4-for-7 from beyond the arc – adding five assists and a steal and posting a team-high +21 in his 27 minutes of action. Timofey Mozgov, whose struggles landed him on the bench for the second half of Sunday’s win in Philly, had his best game of the road trip, finishing with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting to go with nine boards, a pair of steals and a blocked shot. Iman Shumpert added 10 points of his own, but his biggest contributions – as they often are – came on the defensive end of the floor.
The Cavaliers shot just 41 percent from the floor, but still managed to do serious damage from beyond the arc – canning 17 three-pointers on the night, the fifth time in their last six outings that they’ve drilled at least a dozen from long-distance.
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