The Cavs quickly went from a night that they'll never want to forget to a night they'll want to erase from all memory as soon as possible. Only 48 hours after Donovan Mitchell dropped 71 points on his own, there were questions about whether the Cavs would score that many as a team when the final buzzer sounded.
They did end up scoring north of Mitchell's 71 and beat the Phoenix Suns with a final score of 90-88. However, it was not pretty throughout the game.
Watch The Postgame Press Conference Here:
Once again, the Cavs found themselves with another second-half double-digit deficit and clawed their way back into the game.
Mitchell gave the Cavs an 88-85 lead with 40 seconds to go with a clutch three-point shot. This was the first lead Cleveland had since the end of the first quarter in which they were up 15-14. The Suns did come back with their own three from Landry Shamet to tie the game back up at 88.
On the next possession, Mitchell found Evan Mobley for a mid-range shot and Mobley looked cool and comfortable as he knocked it down.
Mobley only finished with six points in the win, but two of those points ended up being the difference maker.
As for the rest of the offense, it was not picture-perfect.
Cleveland scored just 33 points in the first half and shot .289 from the field and was 3/9 from three-point territory. Luckily, the Suns struggled just as much as the Cavs did and only went into halftime with a 10-point lead.
These shooting woes continued for both teams into the second half. Cleveland finished the game shooting .390 and .306 from three. Somehow, they found a way which they've done on multiple occasions this season.
Even though it was ugly at times, one bright spot of this game was the contribution the Cavs got from Raul Neto.
Cleveland was clearly in need of another ball handler and player maker with them being down their All-Star point guard Darius Garland who missed his third consecutive game with a thumb sprain. Neto came off the bench and was the spark the team needed to put them back in the game.
Neto finished the night with 14 points, 1 steal, and drew a charge that start a run for the Cavs in the third quarter. This slasher mentality is what the Cavs built on.
Could this be the start of a rotation that features more minutes for Neto?
The Cavs finish this quick homestand with two nail-biter wins. They now head on the road for a five-game road trip to the West Coast.
---
More must-reads: