After coming out ahead in a matchup between the NBA’s top two teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers will seek to avoid a letdown when they face the visiting Washington Wizards in NBA Cup play on Tuesday.
Donovan Mitchell scored 20 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter to lift the Cavaliers to a 115-111 win over the Boston Celtics on Sunday. Cleveland improved to an NBA-best 18-3 this season, while the Celtics dropped to 16-4.
Cleveland faces an entirely different test against the NBA-worst Wizards, who have lost 14 straight games. Washington is two defeats away from matching its franchise-record losing streak of 16 games.
The Wizards have lost their last nine meetings against Cleveland, which opened the season with 15 straight victories, tied for the second-best start to a season in NBA history.
“Our offense was average tonight, and I think our defense was phenomenal,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said after the game. “They were hitting tough shots, hitting a lot of those mid-range, but we just kept saying, âWe’ll live with the mid-range. Don’t foul them.’ Really showed character and resilience again when we weren’t making shots at a high level.”
Mitchell broke out of a mini-shooting slump in the fourth quarter, when he made all six of his shots, including four 3-pointers.
“Donovan was great down the stretch,” Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome said. “He was pretty bad for like the previous seven quarters of basketball and then you just see something shift in his face and that’s what great players do. They don’t care about the previous however many shots. They take and make big shots. … His whole energy changed. He was super locked in and put the team on his back.”
The rebuilding Wizards lack a dominant scorer like Mitchell, but coach Brian Keefe has been encouraged by the development of rookie center Alex Sarr.
Sarr has started all 18 games and has multiple blocks in 10 contests. Keefe was pleased with how the 7-footer matched up against Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo in Saturday’s 124-114 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
“Great assignment for him,” Keefe said. “I thought he got him a couple times. Alex got at the rim. Cut him off, made him shoot some pull-ups and then he was helping off others too. I thought it was a pretty decent showing for his first time guarding him.”
Keefe is monitoring the status of forward Kyle Kuzma, who sat out Saturday’s game due to a sprained left rib.
One bright spot in the loss was the play of guard Jordan Poole, who scored 31 points. He has made at least one 3-pointer in 46 consecutive games dating back to last season.
The Wizards have lost by at least 15 points in 11 of their 16 defeats, but Poole said the team’s growing pains are to be expected with so many young players on the roster.
“Every organization has to go through tough times in order to figure out what the good times are like, if that makes sense,” Poole said. “We’ve got to figure it out. We’re building a foundation. We’re laying pieces. It’s not supposed to be easy.”