Cavaliers rally past Thunder 107-102

  Darius Garland scored twenty-seven points and passed out a career-high eighteen assists as the Cleveland Cavaliers rallied from an eighteen-point third-quarter deficit to surprise the Oklahoma City Thunder 107-102 in Oklahoma City.

Garland's career evening lifted Cleveland back into the game in the third with fourteen of his twenty-seven points and eight of his eighteen assists in the third quarter alone.

Evan Mobley finished with twenty points on the evening with Jarrett Allen adding a lucky double of thirteen points and rebounds.

Cleveland's win was their fifth in six games on their Western Conference swing and improved to a 26-18 record on the season.

Cleveland returns home tomorrow for an MLK Day afternoon tilt against the Kevin Durantless Brooklyn Nets.

Swashbucklings

1) Watching this game made me think of the occasional evenings when a star player grabbed hold of a game and willed themselves to victory,

That's Darius Garland in Oklahoma City as Garland hit jumpers, drove to the hoop for scores with dishes off for easy dunks.

I'll be the first to admit that I wondered about Garland during his rookie season woes- I worry no more.

2) Evan Mobley was another player that stepped up his game in the final quarter and a half.

Mobley scored sixteen of his twenty points in the second half as the Cavaliers' top interior option.

3) Lauri Markkanen made a key shot in the Cleveland win over San Antonio and Markkanen made another in the win over Oklahoma City with a three-pointer with eleven seconds remaining to boost the Cleveland lead from one point to four points.

4) The Thunder made only four shots in the fourth quarter and scored only seventeen points as the Cavalier's commitment to an improved defensive game continues.

5)  Darius Garland became only the sixth player in Cavaliers history to score 25 points and 15 assists in a game.

The others?

LeBron James, Terrell Brandon, Andre Miller, John Johnson, and Bobby Washington.

Now the first three make a lot of sense and John Johnson was the Cavaliers' first-ever first-round pick in 1970, but Bobby Washington?

Even I had to look that name up, Washington played two games in the 1969-70 season with the ABA Kentucky Colonels and then the following two seasons in Cleveland with the Cavaliers (completing the TRS Double Play for 70s basketball) and in November 1971 against Portland, Washington accomplished the feat.

It would be his final season in basketball.