Fortunately, they were playing the Oklahoma City Thunder on their home court and were able to grind out a 94-87 win.
Darius Garland (23 pts 11 assists), Evan Mobley (15 pts 17 rebounds), and Jarrett Allen (14 pts 13 rebounds) all posted double-doubles for Cleveland.
Cleveland will host New York Monday night.
Swashbucklings
1) The big news was the loss of Lauri Markkanen to a badly sprained ankle that was absolutely sickening to watch on the replay.
No word on how long Markkanen will be lost but I would assume that it would be at least a week or two if it is a lesser sprain.
2) It's too bad as Markkanen was really starting to play well after scoring 28 pts in his last game, his return to Chicago against his former team, and had hit three of four three-pointers in thirteen minutes against the Thunder before the ankle injury.
3) Darius Garland, who I would think is almost a lock to be on the All-Star team considering the game is in Cleveland, struggled in the first half but roared to life in the second half as Garland scored nineteen of his twenty-three points and eleven of his assists.
4) Evan Mobley's seventeen rebounds were a career-high and he reached one hundred assists for the season before the All-Star break.
5) The loss of Lauri Markkanen could be massive as it takes the Cavaliers out of their three big men starting lineup just as Markkanen's play had been on the upswing.
Can this surprising team take another injury blow after losing Collin Sexton, Ricky Rubio and still play at the level they have thus far?
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