Spurs Rally in Second Half, But Fall Short in Loss to Cavs, Donovan Mitchell
The San Antonio Spurs found themselves on the ropes early Monday night against one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, as the Cleveland Cavaliers and red-hot guard Donovan Mitchell had jumped out to a big first-half lead at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
But despite showing some impressive resilience in the second half to cut what was once a 21-point lead to four in the fourth quarter, the Spurs (14-44) came up short in the closing stages of the game en route to a 117-109 loss to the Cavs (38-22) to drop their 13th straight game.
The Spurs saw all five starters reach double figures, led by 25 from Keldon Johnson. Rookie Malaki Branham returned to his home state of Ohio and posted 18 points on 8 of 11 shooting while newly-acquired Spur Devonte' Graham came off the bench to post 12 points and eight assists.
But it was 41 points from Mitchell on 6 of 13 shooting from deep that proved to be the difference. Center Jarrett Allen added 17 points and 11 rebounds while forward Evan Mobley posted 15 points and 10 boards.
The absence of the recently-traded Jakob Poeltl was glaring early on against Cleveland's elite frontcourt. Mobley and Allen combined for 17 of the Cavs' first 19 points to build a 19-7 lead.
Johnson started to take over the Spurs offense near the end of the first quarter with eight points, but the Cavs led 34-19 after the first 12 minutes.
Despite the early hole, San Antonio leaned on its rookies to start the second quarter. Jeremy Sochan, Branham and Dominick Barlow combined for the first nine points of the quarter to help cut the lead back to single digits at 39-30.
But then Mitchell took over, and didn't let hit foot off the gas till midway through the third quarter. He hit four triples in a seven-minute stretch to end the first half before nailing another at the start of the third to make it a 72-51 Cavs lead, their largest of the game at that point.
Then came those feisty Spurs.
San Antonio put together a 9-0 run that was highlighted by another triple from Branham, though the Cavs quickly stopped the bleeding. Garland started to catch a rhythm after a slow first half to keep the Spurs at bay.
Once they gained momentum, the Spurs went back-and-forth with the Cavs before heading into the fourth down down by 10. And with more help from the rooks, the Spurs trailed by just six at 95-89 after Blake Wesley picked Garland's pocket to get an easy transition dunk.
But after cutting the lead to as little as four at 95-91 after Wesley found Charles Bassey on a nifty pass inside, the Cavs held San Antonio scoreless for nearly three minutes and never looked back.
Despite some continued late fight from the backcourt of Wesley, Branham and Graham, Cleveland salted away at the clock and hit important free throws to secure its seventh straight win.
The Spurs will continue their Rodeo Road Trip on Wednesday against the Charlotte Hornets.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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