CLEVELAND, Ohio — About 60 minutes before tipoff, a member of the Cavs’ front office made an impromptu comment to cleveland.com.
We have to get this one.
The Cavs did, beating the surging San Antonio Spurs, 130-117, on Friday night inside Rocket Arena.
The teetering Cavs entered the game losers of four of the last five. Less than a week ago, star guard Donovan Mitchell addressed the team in the locker room, discussing the importance of building championship habits. He made similar comments following Wednesday’s loss — about needing to be better. Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson admitted players were angry and frustrated — emotions that he welcomes and believes are healthy during an extended funk. Jaylon Tyson talked about the team too often being in cruise control.
The vibes were far from immaculate in Cavalier land. They needed a get-right game. They needed to play well against a quality opponent to get their joy — and mojo — back.
Perhaps this victory will help — even though it didn’t start off promising.
The Cavs trailed 9-2 in the first two minutes. They were behind for all but 14 seconds of the first quarter.
Using a 6-0 run at the start of the second, Cleveland finally took its first lead of the night — 36-35.
It lasted 40 seconds.
By halftime, the Cavs were down by eight points.
The Spurs looked younger, faster, hungrier, and flat out better. They erupted for 72 points against a team that considers itself defense-first.
But the Cavs emerged from the locker room a different group. More tenacity. More spunk. More focus. More heart.
An 11-2 push at the start of the second half allowed them to go back in front at the 9:51 mark of the third quarter. It eventually became an extended 28-9 run that gave the Cavs an 11-point advantage — the biggest lead of the night for either team at that point. That increased even more as the third quarter progressed, going in front by 20 at one point.
In all, Cleveland outscored flustered San Antonio 44-19 over those 12 turnaround minutes, taking a 17-point lead into the fourth quarter.
It was shades of 2024-25 when a furious rally would render an opponent helpless.
This time, the Spurs, who came into the night with a 15-6 record, riding a two-game winning streak, looked overmatched — even against a depleted version of the Eastern Conference co-favorites.
The Cavs won the second half, 66-45.
“I don’t think anything happened,” Mitchell said when asked about what sparked the reversal. “Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I forgot. We did our thing in the third quarter.”
“We just knew we had to play better,” Evan Mobley added. “Played OK in the first half, not terrible, but cleaned up some things. We got stops. We changed our defense a little bit in the second half. I think that kind of slowed them down. We got stops and we just went down in transition to score.”
Cleveland was again missing six every-night rotational players — Darius Garland (injury toe management), Sam Merrill (right hand sprain), Jarrett Allen (strained finger), Max Strus (foot surgery), Tyrese Proctor (personal) and Larry Nance Jr. (calf strain).
Mobley was listed as questionable after waking up with a stomach bug in the morning that kept him from participating in shootaround. But the youngster recovered in time to play, giving Cleveland a distinct interior edge against smaller San Antonio, which didn’t have centers Victor Wembanyama (calf strain) or Luke Kornet (ankle soreness).
Mobley capitalized, recording his 13th double-double this season — 17 points and 10 rebounds.
He was one of seven Cavaliers in double figures.
Mitchell finished with 28 points and eight assists. Tyson added 24 points, including 16 in the second half. Two-way forward Nae’Qwan Tomlin, thrust back into the starting lineup Friday night, chipped in with 13 points.
Dean Wade, moved into the starting lineup at the start of the third quarter for his defense and rebounding, had 12 while Craig Porter Jr. and De’Andre Hunter scored 11 apiece.
The Cavs scored 80 points in the paint — the most in franchise history since that statistic started being tracked. As a result, they only made eight 3-pointers, snapping an NBA-record streak of 110 straight games with double-digit triples.
“We’ve been kind of begging our guys to get to the paint more,” Atkinson said. “I know they didn’t have Kornet tonight, but we were downhill. Thought Evan was getting to the rim and that was kind of the story of the game.”
San Antonio got 28 points from Devin Vassell — although only three of those came in a chilly second half. De’Aaron Fox added 25.
“I don’t think much changed. I think we just came out and had fun,” Tyson explained following the win. “I feel like that third quarter we had fun. Once we have fun, we just win basketball games. That’s Cavs basketball. Once we turn defense into offense, not too many teams can compete with us.”
It hasn’t been a joyful few weeks for the Cavs. They will be the first ones to admit it. Even discussed that as a team during the off day on Thursday. But as Mitchell has stated numerous times, this season is about passing mental tests. It’s about responding to adversity. Showing toughness.
They took a step forward in that Friday night, snagging one of their best wins of the young season — just their fifth against an opponent with a record above .500.
Up next
The Cavs will continue their homestand on Saturday night against the Golden State Warriors. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
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