Kevin Love was held out of the game, but the Cleveland Cavaliers were able to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves by a score of 94-88.
Kevin Love was held out of Saturday’s contest with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Cavaliers caught a break of their own with Minnesota being with out their best player in Karl-Anthony Towns. Even without Love, Cleveland was able to bounce back from Friday night’s loss to Boston with a 94-88 victory in Minnesota.
Collin Sexton and Darius Garland led the Cavaliers scoring attack with 18 points each. Garland was a bit more efficient from the floor (8-11 FGA, 2-4 3PT) than Sexton (5-17 FG, 0-1 3PT). Sexton was able to go 8-11 from there free-throw line to make up for his troubles shooting the ball and grabbed a surprisingly high seven rebounds.
Tristan Thompson had a typical Tristan Thompson game. Thompson scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Four of Thompson’s rebounds were of the offensive variety. Thompson also struggled shooting the ball (2-9), but was able to salvage the evening with his effort at the free throw line (8-11).
Larry Nance Jr. started in place of Kevin Love and finished with nine and nine. Nine points and nine rebounds. Nance did his best Kevin Love impression, going 1-3 from deep.
Like many other Cavaliers, Kevin Porter Jr. struggled when shooting the ball. Porter went 3-10 from the field and 0-3 from three-point range. Porter also went 4-6 from the free throw line, helping him get to 10 points on the night.
Highs and lows for the Cavaliers
Cleveland out-rebounded Minnesota 61-39. Rebounding made free throws (26) and the final score were the only positive areas for the Cavaliers. There were plenty of issues for Cleveland.
One of the main issues with Cleveland has been turnovers. Committing the second-highest amount of turnovers per game, Cleveland committed another 29 Saturday. The Cavaliers are not going to get away with almost 30 turnovers and win often, but they managed to that against Minnesota.
Three-point shooting is another area of concern. While they attempted only 20 three-pointers, they only made four. Minnesota also struggled in that area, but made double the amount that Cleveland made.
The Cavaliers were also on the wrong side of fast break points and points in the paint. Minnesota was able to score 15 points in transition compared to Cleveland’s six. Minnesota was also able to dominate points in the paint, edging Cleveland 50-44.
The Cavaliers managed to win despite being outplayed in several key areas. This is unlikely to be a common occurrence for a team like the Cavaliers who are young and lacking talent across the board.
