No lead felt safe Wednesday night inside Rocket Arena, and the Cavaliers proved it again.
Cleveland shook off another slow start, stormed back from a double-digit deficit and pulled away from the Washington Wizards, 121-111, to win its third straight and move to 3-1 on the season. The comeback was their second in a row, coming two nights after they erased a 15-point deficit against Minnesota.
Washington, with No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa making his NBA debut after an ankle injury, came out swinging. The Wizards poured in 42 points in the first quarter and another 27 in the second, turning the opening half into a showcase of rim attacks and fast finishes.
Cleveland spent much of that stretch chasing, and the home crowd let the team know it. The boos started midway through the second quarter as Washington kept carving up the paint and built a double-digit edge.
The tone didn’t change right away after halftime. Less than two minutes into the third quarter, another defensive breakdown led to a backdoor alley-oop and a 13-point Washington lead, its largest of the night. But that sequence finally jolted the Cavs awake.
They answered with an 8-2 burst, then kept grinding until the game was tied at 92 heading to the fourth. That set up the finishing stretch, when Cleveland grabbed its first lead of the second half on the opening possession of the final period and then steadily pushed ahead. By the 3:28 mark, the Cavs were up eight, and the building that had been booing earlier was roaring instead.
Cleveland won the second half, 62-42, and the difference came on the defensive end. After surrendering 50 first-half points in the paint, the Cavs tightened the screws, made adjustments and gave up just 16 paint points after halftime while holding Washington to 42.1% shooting over the final two quarters.
Evan Mobley powered the turnaround with 24 points and 12 rebounds for his third straight double-double. He also hit five 3-pointers, one shy of his career high.
“Just confidence,” Mobley said. “The first few went in so just kept shooting ‘em.
Been working on them for years now. I feel confident in it and I’m gonna keep shooting them.
It’s going to stretch the defense out a little more and make it harder on defenders when they’re guarding me.”
Peyton Watson added 22 points in his first season with Cleveland after being acquired from Denver in a five-team trade this summer, and Donovan Mitchell finished with 19.
Dybantsa scored 19 points in 27 minutes in his debut. Anthony Davis had 18, while Trae Young posted 14 points and eight assists. He had just two assists against three turnovers in the second half.
“We changed our scheme,” Mobley explained. “We started switching one through five and just keeping a body on a body. I think the pick and roll with Trae Young and the two bigs were kind of messing with us in the first half and so we switched it up.”
Cleveland spent training camp and the preseason talking about getting back to its defensive identity, and the first half against Washington looked nothing like it. The second half did.
The Cavaliers head to Atlanta for the second night of a back-to-back Thursday, with tipoff set for 8 p.m.
In Other News...
Peyton Watson Is Giving The Cavs Something They May Really Need
Amid the early-season chaos around the league, Peyton Watson has given Cleveland a different kind of lift in a recent overtime win, the sort that tends to matter more when games tighten and possessions get ugly. The Cavaliers have plenty of scorers they can lean on, but Watsons value showed up in the areas that dont always make the highlight reel, with his activity helping swing momentum on both ends while the team keeps sorting out its rotation.
The offense still has a bit of a project attached to it, though, and that is the piece Cleveland will keep watching as the sample grows. Watsons size and defensive energy are already giving the Cavaliers something they can build on, but the next question is whether his shot becomes reliable enough to make him more than a situational weapon as the season moves along. [Read more 🡒]
Cavaliers Win Still Exposed A Frustrating Problem Mobley And Allen Haven't Fixed
The Cavaliers got the overtime win they needed against Minnesota, but the box score still pointed to a nagging problem that has followed them at times this season. Even with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen anchoring the front line, Cleveland was hurt on the defensive glass, and the Wolves extra chances kept possessions alive in a way that made the game far harder than it should have been.
For a team built to defend at a high level, the issue goes beyond two big men doing their job. Rebounding on the defensive end has to be a full-team task, with guards and wings helping close possessions before they turn into second opportunities, and this one offered another reminder that the Cavaliers still have work to do there if they want to make wins look cleaner. [Read more 🡒]
Cavs Win Just Sparked An Officiating Debate Fans Will Be Talking About
The Cavaliers overtime win over the Timberwolves is already the kind of result that gets replayed, but the NBAs Last Two Minute Report added another layer to the discussion. The league identified two officiating mistakes that worked in Clevelands favor, while also backing several other calls from the final stretch, including the non-flagrant ruling on Donovan Mitchell and a foul on Jaden McDaniels.
What stood out most was how thin the margins were late, when every whistle can reshape a games finish. The report said a key call should have gone the other way on the final possession of regulation, and it also marked an overtime foul involving Mitchell and LaMelo Ball as incorrect because the contact was deemed incidental, leaving plenty for fans to debate even after the result is in the books. [Read more 🡒]