Cleveland, OH (92.3 The Fan) – As temperatures outside of Quicken Loans Arena plummeted to single digits, the Cavaliers caught fire inside before having to hang on for dear life.
Cedi Osman continued his recent scoring surge by scoring 26 points to go with 7 assists and 5 rebounds in 36 minutes of work while Jordan Clarkson put in a team-high 28 points in 29 minutes off the bench as the Cavs held on for a 116-113 win over the Washington Wizards.
“It was like a nightmare, but at the end of the day we won the game so we’re lucky,” Osman said.
Osman’s block of a 25-foot jumper by Washington’s Troy Brown Jr. and rebound as the closing seconds expired sealed the win.
The victory was the Cavs’ second straight marking the second time this season they’ve won back-to-back games. The first came Nov. 23 and 24 – a 121-112 win at Philadelphia and a 117-108 victory over the Rockets.
“I don’t think we’re doing much of anything different, I think we’re doing some things better,” head coach Larry Drew said.
Rookie Collin Sexton was among 6 Cavs to finish in double figures. He had 11 points.
Washington's Bradley Beal led everyone with 31. Jordan McRae scored 15 in the fourth quarter as a reserve for the Wizards, who emptied their bench when the game got out of hand.
Cleveland shot 53.6 percent from the floor in their 11th victory of the season.
Close call – After exchanging the lead 9 times and tying 5 more in the first half, the Cavs separated themselves in the third quarter, outscoring Washington 35-22 thanks to 14 points from Osman in the quarter.
The Cavs led by as many 25 with 6:58 remaining in the fourth quarter before Washington finished with a 33-11 run by their bench players, and they closed within 3 with 11.6 seconds remaining before Osman’s defensive heroics saved the day.
“Momentum's a scary thing,” Larry Nance Jr. said. “When another team has momentum, it doesn't matter if you put the guys with the best plus-minus on the team in. Once it snowballs and gets rolling, it's hard to stop.”
In the end it was a win, and from Drew’s perspective, hopefully a lesson learned.
“That was kind of new to us,” Drew said. “What we showed was right now, we don’t know how to play with a lead like that. Not taking anything away from Washington, I thought the guys they put into the game came in and got after us. I thought the things we did well in the first 3 quarters we didn’t do as well in the fourth quarter and then next thing you know we’re looking over our shoulder and they’re knocking at the door.
“There’s something we can take from not just a win but that situation alone. In the NBA I’ve seen stranger things happen and you cannot play a lead, a 20-point lead with a quarter to go is nothing...We can’t take our foot off the gas.”
Share the rock – After handing out 26 assists on 39 field goals Sunday at Chicago, the Cavs maintained that same energy offensively Tuesday night and it paid off in another W.
Cleveland had a season-high 30 assists on 45 field goals, including 14 assists on 23 makes in the first half.
“We’ve been moving the ball. We made shots today too,” Drew said. “We’ve been putting a lot of emphasis on making sure the ball does move. We move the ball, we move our bodies because we do get in trouble when we get stagnant and we play just 1 side of the floor.”
Hot from deep – Led by Clarkson, who made 6 of 8 from deep, the Cavs hit a season-high 15 threes.
“Just out there playing free, letting it go, getting open shots,” Clarkson said. “My teammates were getting me open shots and I just knocked them down.”
Osman also made 4 of his 8 tries from beyond the arc.
Double the pleasure, double the fun – Ante Zizic and Larry Nance Jr. notched double-doubles Tuesday night.
Zizic had 12 points and 12 rebounds while Nance finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
“Just felt good to shake the last bits of rust off,” Nance said. Those first 2 games were iffy but I’m just excited that we’re, the past few games, playing better and playing more competitive as a team.”
Take a breath – The Cavs are off until Saturday when they’ll host the Dallas Mavericks.
