Mitchell pours in 34 points as Cleveland downs Portland 109-95
Published 9:13 pm Wednesday, November 15, 2023
- Portland Trail Blazers guard Skylar Mays (5) shoots the ball against the Orlando Magic in the home opener at Moda Center.
On the second night of a back-to-back, the Portland Trail Blazers (3-8) starters never got it going while Donovan Mitchell went to work for Cleveland (5-6) as the Cavaliers won 109-95.
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Mitchell finished the night with 34 points while the Blazers, short on guards due to injuries to Anfernee Simons, Scoot Henderson and Malcolm Brogdon, had to deal with foul trouble all night to their starting guards in Skylar Mays and Shaedon Sharep.
The larger Cavaliers dominated in the paint earlier, jumping out to a 25-11 lead in the first quarter while the Blazers’ offense sputtered.
Portland fought back though after going down 14, thanks in part to Duop Reath and Skylar Mays, former teammates at LSU who are now in Portland with Mays recently moving to an NBA contract.
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Reath provided some much needed energy and effort on the glass and got out in transition a couple times while Mays hit a 3-pointer and later an and-1 at the line.
Those two helped make it 30-25 at the end of the first quarter, and Mays kept it going with a nifty move to get Georges Niang off of him and found a cutting Kris Murray for an easy bucket.
Jabari Walker came off the bench and hit two 3-pointers, the first one tying the game at 38. He had eight points and two blocks at the break.
After that 3-pointer, Donovan Mitchell went back to work and ended the first half with 17 points. More importantly, he helped put Shaedon Sharpe and Mays both at three fouls each, forcing more minutes for recently signed two-way guard Jamaree Bouyea more minutes than expected.
Still, the Blazers hung around with Sharpe leading the way at 10 points and Ayton finding a little bit of a groove toward the end of the first half after being denied for the first 24. Cleveland led 55-47 at halftime.
The starters were again a non-factor to open the second half and the Cavs built their lead back into double digits as Mitchell continued to ball despite picking up his fourth foul.
Reath kept pushing hard though and started the turnaround with a hard-won offensive rebound that he kicked out to Matisse Thybulle for a 3-pointer.
On the next Blazers’ possession, Reath hit his second 3-pointer of the night for the loudest cheer of the night inside the Moda Center.
Evan Mobley found his on offense, but the effort from the bench saved the game once again in the second half to make it just an 8-point game going into the fourth quarter at 83-75.
The Cavs stopped messing around though to open the fourth quarter with Mitchell and Mobley both imposing their will, plus a big dunk by Max Strus on Reath. The burst made it 99-81 Cavs with 8:25 left in the game.
That burst spelled the end for Portland despite an attempt at a comeback from Jerami Grant and Deandre Ayton, who had largely been quiet on the night.
Mitchell finished the night with 34 points to lead Cleveland while Mobley chipped in 21 points and 12 rebounds. Cleveland outrebounded Portland 47-30.
On the Portland side, Grant’s late burst gave him the team lead in points with 17, but the bench had 48 points on the night to outpace the starters with 47. Reath led that effort with 16 points.
Up next is the Blazers’ third In-Season Tournament and their last one at home. They’ll take on the Los Angeles Lakers at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17.