They did everything they could to screw it up at the end, but held on thanks to some great defense on the last possession by Allen. Two turnovers by the Cavs on inbound passes and they gave up a three-point play on a layup by the point guard. They tried hard to blow it but Allen bailed them out.
The Cavs were 15-for-30 on 3's as Garland and Cedi were hot. Cedi is up to 50% from deep on the season! Sexton had 21 points on only 13 shots and did a great job of breaking down the defense. Garland had 19 points and 10 assists but was abused defensively. I'm hoping that 5-for-6 on 3's is the start of something big for him.
The last time these teams squared off it was also in Cleveland and the Blazers won 141-105, so this game shows how much progress the Cavs have made since May.
The defense was solid, holding the Blazers to 104 points on 44.4% from the field. Lillard and McCollum combined to go 17-for-48. Gotta love that. The Cavs gave up 10 offensive rebounds according to the box score but it sure looked like a lot more.
With three forwards out Dylan Windler stepped in and scored 13 points and added three assists in 21 minutes. Cedi had 12 points on seven shots. But the Cavs need to cut down on the turnovers - they had 17 to the Blazers 9. Between the turnovers and the offensive rebounds the Blazers took 90 shots to only 74 for the Cavs, so it's amazing the Cavs won.
This was a frustrating game because every time the Cavs got out to a 9-10 point lead and had a chance to separate the Blazers reeled them in. At one point in the 4th quarter the Blazers got hot and went on a 13-3 run but the Cavs broke the run before the Blazers could take the lead. Then they hung on. Allen was amazing the whole game with 24 points, 17 boards, and the huge stop against Lillard on the final possession.