I was ready to write this one off in the 1st quarter, especially when Bates came in. But these guys just don't quit. They ignore the score and just keep plugging away, one possession at a time.
Allen had one of his best games as a Cavalier with a line of 24/23/6. He totally dominated the 19-year-old Mavs' center, whose line was 4/4/1. Allen had NINE offensive boards.
Okoro continues to thrive in his new role with 22 points on 13 shots and 4-for-7 on 3's. All that work is finally paying off, and just in time. One, we need scoring right now, and two, it's a contract year.
Porter is amazing. A point guard getting 12 rebounds, second in the NBA tonight? And 7 assists. Defensive rebounding has been a problem for the Cavs going back to the playoff series against the Knicks and Porter grabbed eight of them tonight.
With three starters out we need serious bench scoring and LeVert stepped up with 29 points and 7 assists. He was directly involved in about 45 of the 113 points. Probaby his best game of the year and it came at the perfect time.
Niang finally stepped up with a season high 16 points. He still choked two free throws at the end. I was sure Doncic would hit a 3 to send it to OT, but Allen and LeVert doubled him and Strus made sure Seth Curry didn't get a clean look. Great defensive execution to bail out Niang.
The Mavs made just 10 of 37 from deep (27%). Take away Curry's shots and they were 5-for-28. They should have won this one but we got lucky in that they missed a lot of open 3's and they paid for it.
As I keep saying, this team will be really, really good once they're fully healthy. Allen, Okoro, Porter, and Wade are getting better from the experience they're getting. This team doesn't think they're inferior to anybody. What an impressive win!