Cleveland Cavaliers will make sure to approach No. 1 seed in the eastern conference and fight for the best record in the NBA when they host San Antonio Spurs on Thursday in a late-season Interconference game.
Cavaliers (58-14) still have plenty to play. Cleveland has climbed the central division but is only five matches away from the growing Boston Celtics for the top position in the east with 10 matches left in the regular season. Cavaliers will start playing on Thursday two games behind Oklahoma City for the best record in the league.
Cleveland’s latest competition was a victory 122-111 at Portland on Tuesday, when Cavaliers won his second straight excursion after a seasonal four-game losing row. Darius Garland led Cleveland with 27 points in the victory, while Ty Jerome added 25 points from the bench and Evan Mobley raised 21 points and 12 returns.
Cavaliers played without star guard Donovan Mitchell, who was out with a groin injury. He will be available against Spurs on Thursday.
Jarrett Allen and Sam Merrill also had 14 points each and De’andre Hunter hit 11 points in the victory, which was Cleveland’s 28th victory from home – mostly in a single season in franchise history.
The win ended a five-game road trip-all against the Western Conference-team-for Cleveland. “We’re a tired group right now,” said Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson after the Portland game. “We have to come home, get into our own bed, get back on our routine.”
Garland continues to impress as Cavaliers’ Robin to Mitchell’s Batman, an average of 20.8 points, 6.7 assists and 2.8 returns per match while shooting a career high 47.6 percent from the floor and 40.3 percent behind the bow. Garland was named the All-Star team this year for the second time in his career.
“This year is literally a revenge season, just for all the doubts and haters who just counted me from last year with everything I went through,” explained Garland “so this year you get a product from what everyone else talked about last year.”
The spurs (31-40) travel to Cleveland on the heel of a loss of 122-96 on Detroit on Tuesday. Devin Vassell led San Antonio with 26 points, with Stephon Castle adding 19 points, Sandro Mamulashvili Tallying 11 and Keldon Johnson beat in 10.
The spurs shot only 22.2 percent from the floor during the first half in the loss, trailer with 26 points at the break and with 19 on the way into the final period.
“Giving up 60 points in half when your crime is that bad actually puts too much pressure on our defense,” said Spur’s acting coach Mitch Johnson. “We actually played okay defensively and during the second half of the year we got a better answer. We came out and moved the ball and played with more intention.”
The spurs scored only two field goals and scored only 12 points during the second quarter. “It was tough,” Vassell said. “First half was tough – we just couldn’t make any pictures.”
San Antonio had won three straight matches (binding one season high) before his loss on Tuesday and is still 3 1/2 matches behind Phoenix and Sacramento, which are bound for the 10th, for the last place in the West Play-in game.
The spurs is in 13th place with only 11 games left in the regular season to earn a place during the season.
The team will play again on April 4 in Alamo City. Cleveland has captured the last three races with Spurs after winning at home and on the road in 2024.
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