The Cavaliers trailed 93-81 with 10:28 left. They rallied to take a 106-103 lead on a Kevin Love 3-pointer with less than three minutes left. Memphis responded with four straight points. Love answered with another 3-pointer than gave the Cavaliers the lead for good.
“There was a point in the 4th quarter that I didn’t think we’d be sitting up here with the W,” head coach John Beilein said. “We had some really good moments in the game — and then sort of went into a little bit of a funk — and they got up by 12. I love the way that we fought back, the resiliency that we had to have was terrific for our guys to do that. Just really proud of our guys to do that."
The Cavaliers outscored the Grizzlies 33-14 in the final 10:28.
"The 20 points they scored in the fourth quarter tells a lot about what type of shape we are in, about our resiliency, about the attitude that we had of how we were going to win the game,” Beilein said with a smile.
Jordan Clarkson led the Cavaliers with 33 points off of the bench. He made his first five 3-pointers (six total) and finished 12-of-17 from the floor.
Love finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds. He made five 3-pointers.
The Grizzlies selected Ja Morant with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. The Cavaliers took Darius Garland with the No. 5 pick. It was the first time the two young guards were on the court together in the NBA.
Garland held his own, forcing Morant to take some tough shots. The Grizzlies rookie finished with eight points, five rebounds and 11 assists on 4-of-11 shooting.
Tristan Thompson became the second player in Cavaliers’ history to have 2,000 offensive rebounds. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is first in team history with 2,336 offensive rebounds. It took Ilgauskas 12 seasons to reach that mark. Thompson is in his ninth season.
The Cavaliers’ home stand continues on Monday night against Trae Young and the Hawks.