CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Caris LeVert looked like the dynamic playmaker the Cavs thought they were getting from the Pacers and Darius Garland continues to play like an All-Star, but it wasn’t enough Wednesday night.
The injury-ravaged Cavs didn’t have enough firepower to overcome a sensational performance by young Mavericks star Luka Doncic who scored 20 of his 35 points in the third quarter to help Dallas take control in the second half and roll to a 120-112 victory.
“[Doncic] does a great job of playing at the right tempo and the right speed,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “Tonight it was a pick your poison because his teammates were making shots and he does a great job of finding them and setting them up.
“He’s a wizard with that ball in his hands and it makes it really difficult.”
It was the Cavs fourth loss in their last five games, and they appear destined for the Play-In Tournament if they hope to play beyond the regular season.
Doncic finished a rebound shy of another triple double while handing out 13 assists – a few of them of the no-look behind the back variety too.
Bickerstaff is trying to hold his Cavaliers team together with trainers tape down the stretch and it’s not strong enough.
All-Star center Jarrett Allen missed his 12th consecutive game with a broken finger, veteran Rajon Rondo has been sidelined the last nine due to a sprained right ankle and rookie Evan Mobley will miss at least the next two games, and likely more, after suffering a sprained left ankle Monday night.
“You’re missing obviously a lot, but we’ve got to find ways to create that and make up for that,” Bickerstaff said. “The only way is everybody’s gotta be a little more aggressive – not in a selfish way by any means, but they gotta put the defense on their heels a little bit, move the ball quickly…create easy things for one another. That’s what we’re going to have to do – create some easy buckets those guys would typically get.”
The good news is that Mobley is not in a walking boot according to Bickerstaff, but he will not travel with the team to Atlanta Thursday night or New York Saturday.
Bickerstaff turned to Moses Brown, who gave them 12 points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes, at center Wednesday night.
LeVert put together his best performance since being acquired from Indiana – 32 points, six rebounds and four assists.
“This is who Caris is,” Bickerstaff said. “You look at over his career and he has the ability to get buckets. Trades, injuries, those things are difficult on everybody so it was just a matter of time before he worked his way into form.”
Despite the loss, the hope is the Cavs found something to work with until they get healthy.
“We played well in spurts,” LeVert said. “We had a stretch in the third, a couple of turnovers, they converted them and from there on we were playing catch-up the rest of the game. I think if we can correct those things and build off the rest, I think we’ll be fine.”
Garland registered another double-double – his 27th of the season – with 25 points, 10 assists and five rebounds to set a new franchise record for point-assist double-doubles in a single month with his 11th of March breaking Mark Price’s mark of 10 set in November 1990.
The All-Star was the only Cavs starter to finish with a positive plus-minus with a plus-10.
Led by Doncic, Dallas turned a six-point halftime deficit into an 11-point lead after 3 by outscoring the Cavs 39-22 to take control the rest of the way.