The Cleveland Cavaliers have been one of the more disappointing teams in the Eastern Conference, battling to stay above .500 for much of December.
It appears the tide may be turning as the Cavaliers carry a three-game winning streak into a Sunday afternoon matchup with the visiting Detroit Pistons.
Donovan Mitchell scored 33 points and Darius Garland had 18 to go along with eight rebounds Friday as Cleveland outlasted the injury-plagued Denver Nuggets 113-108. Jarrett Allen added eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers.
“I try and look at the positives, but we’ve still got a ways to go,” said Mitchell, who is averaging a career-best 29.8 points and leads the league with 130 3-pointers entering play on Saturday.
“We’ve done it for 10-11 days and we’ve shown there is a different vibe. But we’re at the time we need to do it. It’s January, it’s time to put our foot on the gas.”
The Cavaliers waited until the fourth quarter to hit the accelerator against Denver, which had four starters out with injuries, including three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. They limited the Nuggets to 11 points in the final 12 minutes.
Five different Cleveland players scored during a 10-0 run, capped by two free throws by De’Andre Hunter with 14 seconds left that increased its lead to 111-105.
“It’s like we were more focused at the end, which I’m not too happy about,” Mitchell said. “My next challenge is it shouldn’t wait until the fourth quarter. For us to do that in the fourth shows we can do it, but now we have to do it for the rest of the game.”
It was the Cavaliers’ fourth straight home win and made them 5-2 overall since Dec. 22. Allen has been key in the surge, averaging 17.0 points and 11.0 rebounds over his last three games.
“I feel like I’m really close, if not all the way back,” Allen said. “As a big, we’re always going to love to touch the ball. That’s been the goal the last few games. When we touch the paint, our shot percentages go way up.”
Conference-leading Detroit will be more rested, last playing Thursday when it lost 118-112 to the visiting Miami Heat. The defeat was costly as center Jalen Duren sustained a sprained right ankle.
The Pistons are showing signs of slippage with three defeats in their last four contests. Two setbacks were against teams with losing records in the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz, but the Pistons remain two games ahead of the second-place New York Knicks entering play on Saturday.
Cade Cunningham collected 31 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, and Isaiah Stewart had six points and five blocks against Miami. Stewart is starting in place of pure scorer Tobias Harris, who is day to day with an injured hip.
Detroit has allowed 118.8 points over its last five games — six full points above its season average — to drop from second in the league to fifth.
“We’re a defensive team, but most definitely, we haven’t played to our standard on that side of the floor,” Stewart said. “It hasn’t been there during that stretch on the road and (against the Heat). That’s what we’re about. We’ve got to get back to our standard on that side of the ball.”
