The Cleveland Cavaliers traveled to Memphis to take on the Grizzlies for their season opener, but were unable to come away with a win.
Going into Memphis and winning the season opener against the Grizzlies was always going to be a tall task for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The task was too tall as the Cavs were on the wrong side of a 132-121 final score.
Cleveland was actually able to exit the 1st quarter with the game tied at 32, after that there were issues. Memphis outscored Cleveland 41-29 in the 2nd quarter, more than enough to carry the Grizzlies to an easy victory. While the Cavaliers did outscore Memphis 60-59 in the second half, it was the 2nd quarter that did them in.
The Cavaliers managed to have an edge in assists (38-28), mostly coming form Darius Garland (12) and Ricky Rubio (10). Garland and Rubio also managed to contribute in the scoring department with 13 and 12 respectively.
In his first game since signing his extension in the offseason, Jarrett Allen was a perfect 11-11 from the field, scoring 25 points. Allen also had four rebounds, three blocks, three steals, and one assist, solidifying his performance as the best for the Cavs on the night.
Rookie Evan Mobley had quite the debut, scoring 17 points and grabbing nine rebounds, tied with Lauri Markkanen for a team-high. Speaking of Markkanen, his Cavaliers debut was not as nice. Markkanen struggled from the field making just four of his 14 field goal attempts including going 2-7 from deep.
It was a surprising shooting night for Cedi Osman, making all three shots from downtown while going 5-6 overall. Osman scored 15 points, the highest total of any Cleveland bench player.
