CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The Cavaliers shortage at guard due to injury cost them big Monday night as 22 turnovers complicated their latest comeback bid.
After starting out scorching hot with a 37-point first quarter, the Cavs saw their early 14-point lead turn into a 23-point deficit midway through the third quarter before they did what they always do – fight their way back to make a game of it late.
Ultimately it was too little too late as the Timberwolves left town with a 127-122 victory, ending Cleveland’s eight-game home win streak.
“There’s a lot of pride in the fact that they continue to compete, but there’s also the conversation about how we put ourselves in that hole in the first place,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We talk about being who we are for 48 minutes, and we lost sight of that early.
“There are no silver linings. Our guys compete like they always do but we have to be better.”
The loss dropped the Cavs to 36-25, a half-game behind fourth-seeded Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference.
“We gotta win games,” Kevin Love, who led the Cavs with 26 points, five rebounds and four assists, said. “Ones like tonight are very tough because we felt like we got out to a good start and then ended the first half on a bad note and then started [the second half] on a poor note as well.
“We had to fight from 23 down. We gave ourselves a shot.”
The hot start and then fourth quarter rally had Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse roaring but when the rollercoaster came to a halt, the eight-game home win streak was over.
Rallying from 20 or more down has become commonplace this season. The Cavs did it twice in the span of a week in a pair of wins over the Pacers but Monday night the hole got too deep.
“When we are down, we never fully feel like we’re out of the game,” Love said.
Cedi Osman’s 3 tied the game at 122 with 33 seconds remaining but Karl Anthony Towns, who won the NBA’s 3-point contest during All-Star Weekend in Cleveland and finished with 17 points, countered with his own triple to give Minnesota the lead back for good.
Osman, who scored 21, missed from deep with 4.6 seconds remaining sealing the victory for Minnesota.
“We've been in that situation a couple times before," Osman said. “We never gave up. We're upset we lost because we fought really hard. I apologize for that last shot. I have to be better in those positions.”
While a lack of defensive intensity in the middle of the game bothered Bickerstaff, it was the turnovers that killed the Cavs – 14 of them came in the fateful second and third quarters combined that helped fuel Minnesota’s 37-point swing.
Cleveland committed six more turnovers in the final quarter that slowed the late charge.
“I thought there were plays where we were trying to make the right play because we were trying to share the ball, but it was just going to be a difficult play to be made,” Bickerstaff said. “When you dig a hole, 23 points, you gotta be dang near perfect and you can’t afford to have those moments, but it wasn’t a lack of trying to do the right thing, it was just trying to make a more difficult play than we needed at the time.”
The Cavs are trying to tread water with All-Star guard Darius Garland sidelined with a bone bruise in his back as well as Rajon Rondo, out with a sprained big toe, and Caris LeVert due to a sprained foot.
Brandon Goodwin had 17 points and 12 assists and just one turnover subbing for Garland.
Jarrett Allen had 21 and rookie Evan Mobley recorded another double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.