By james art (Photo: Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images)
Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points, Jarrett Allen went 10-for-10 from the floor en route to 23 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the host Washington Wizards 135-116 on Saturday night.
Allen and Darius Garland, who hit 9 of 11 on their way to 23 points, combined for a 53.4 percent effort from the floor for Cleveland, which has won its first three games of the new season.
The Cavaliers also made 18 of 39 3-pointers (46.2 percent), with Mitchell knocking down six, Garland hitting four and Sam Merrill sinking three.
Merrill finished with 11 points, while fellow reserves Ty Jerome (14 points) and Caris LeVert (10) also scored in double figures. Evan Mobley recorded a double-double, recording 13 points and 13 rebounds for Cleveland.
Bilal Koulibaly led Washington with 23 points and six boards. Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole each scored 14 points, but Kuzma struggled mightily, shooting 3-for-16 overall. The Wizards shot 38.5 percent from the field and 34.9 percent from deep.
No. 2 pick Alexander Sarr added 12 points in his second NBA game, while Corey Kispert and Jonas Valanciunas each scored 10 off the bench.
Kuzma made a dunk just 10 seconds into the second half to bring Washington within 59-55, but the Cavaliers took over from there. They scored the next 12 points, five of which came from Mitchell, to open a 71-55 lead with 7:33 left in the third quarter.
Cleveland went on to lead by as many as 20 points in the third and took a 97-81 advantage into the fourth, where Mitchell scored 13 points and Jerome scored 12 to help decide the game.
LeVert’s trey gave the Cavaliers a 48-35 lead with 3:34 left in the second quarter, but the Wizards cut the deficit to six, 59-53, at the break after Valanciunas made a putback just before the halftime buzzer.
Garland scored 10 points in the first quarter to give Cleveland a 28-25 advantage.
–Field level media