Diving deeper into Cavs win over Wizards: Evan Mobley finds his shot

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers coasted through the first half, fell down by double digits, and then turned it on down the stretch to grab their 17th straight win against the Washington Wizards with a final score of 121-111.

Three stars of the game

First star: Evan Mobley

24 points on 8-of-12 shooting, 12 rebounds, 2 assists

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The Cavs ceiling changes if Mobley becomes a consistent and lethal three-point shooter. We saw that in Wednesday’s game as he went 5-for-6 from beyond the arc. This wasn’t a one-off performance. Through four games, Mobley is 12-for-18 (66.7%) from three.

“There’s a shift in his demeanor,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “There’s a confidence to him now. … The jumper looks quicker to me. It’s not just that he’s making them. I think last year he kind of made threes [when he had] time and space. I feel like this year he’s getting it off quicker. He’s making them with harder contests.”

The Wizards had to change their defense to account for this. They didn’t give him the same time and space in the second half, which allowed the rest of the offense to flourish.

On top of that, Mobley, along with Jarrett Allen, made it difficult to finish inside in the second half. Washington attempted just 13 shots in the paint in the second half after taking 31 there in the first.

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This was a solid and complete game from Mobley

Second star: Peyton Watson

22 points on 9-of-17 shooting, 6 rebounds, 2 assists

This was the first time we got a real taste of how helpful Watson can be for Cleveland. He was impactful attacking off the dribble, and more importantly, in creating out of the short roll when running pick-and-rolls with the starting backcourt. That was incredibly useful considering how the Wizards — and most of the other teams before them — were trapping Cleveland’s guards on high pick-and-rolls.

“I loved the offensive part,” Atkinson said. “Getting in the pocket, making plays, driving [against] mismatches. He goes hard to the rim.

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Watson also made a difference as an offensive rebounder by creating five extra chances. Three of those opportunities directly led to points….

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/diving-deeper-cavs-win-over-035528496.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-29 03:55:00

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