Evan Mobley impresses in Cavs annual Wine & Gold scrimmage

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers held their annual Wine & Gold scrimmage in front of season ticket holders at Public Auditorium on Saturday morning.

Head coach Kenny Atkinson has mentioned throughout preseason that he was treating this event as the fourth exhibition game, and he was true to his word. The Cavs split into two teams, played a 36-minute game, and had regular NBA refs.

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So while this wasn’t an official preseason game, it was their final dress rehearsal before the season tips off on Thursday.

Here’s an overview of the starters for each team. It’s worth pointing out that Sam Merrill, Nae’Qwan Tomlin, and Khalifa Diop did not participate.

Wine

Gold

Donovan Mitchell

James Harden

Meleek Thomas

Tyrese Proctor

Jaylon Tyson

Craig Porter Jr.

Mario Hezonja

Peyton Watson

Jarrett Allen

Evan Mobley

Gold dominated this game from start to finish. They jumped out to an early lead thanks to strong showings from Harden and Mobley. Wine struggled to contain the Harden and Mobley pick-and-roll, which led to easy paint touches for Mobley and his teammates.

Wine’s perimeter defense struggled throughout. And while Mitchell did his part offensively, it wasn’t enough to make the game competitive down the stretch.

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“I felt like they were giving up layup after layup after layup and then paint points and it’s like, at a certain point, you gotta him them and make them aware that’s not acceptable,” Atkinson said afterward.

There were no official stats; the consensus was that Mobley was the leading scorer. He hit a few threes, attacked the basket continually, and overall had a strong all-around game.

“Evan was elite,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson singled out Harden and Mitchell as having good games, but he was quick to point out that Mitchell was part of Wine’s defense, which was a problem. Tyson also got a mention from Atkinson afterwards for his offensive production.

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Gold won with a final score of 96-82.

The game wasn’t the only noteworthy thing that took place at Public Auditorium on Saturday. At halftime, several fans and some members of the Cavs participated in a half-court conference. Porter and Allen missed…

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Publish date : 2026-10-17 19:45:00

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