The Cleveland Cavaliers returned home from a four-game West Coast road trip to host the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
It was one of the best games this group has played when their star was on the sideline, as Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love led the way to a 99-98 win over the Mavs.
The Cavs were without LeBron James, who got the night off to rest for the third time this season. The Cavs were 0-2 in the previous two games he missed this season and 3-12 since the start of the 2014-2015 season when he is not on the court.
Irving and company picked up some of the slack early on, as the Cavs got out to a good start and led 31-28 after one.
Irving scored 11 points in the opening quarter, while the trio of Dirk Nowitzki, David Lee, and J.J. Barea did almost all of the damage for Dallas, combining for 24 of the Mavericks’ 28 points.
Channing Frye kept some of the good momentum going from his two great games in Los Angeles, hitting four of his first five field goal attempts to provide a spark off the bench and help the Cavs widen their lead to as many as 20 points midway through the second quarter.
The Mavericks weren’t out of it, however, as they rattled off an impressive 19-2 run in less than five minutes to make it a three-point game.
Love ended the run with a clutch three from the corner and the Cavs would end the half with a little bit of momentum back on their side, leading 57-51.
Irving and Love stepped up in LeBron’s absence in the first half, as Irving scored 16 points and Love contributed 14 in the first half.
Nowitzki led the Mavs with 16 points in the half.
Cleveland came out of the gate to start the second half on a roll, as they built the lead back up to 20 in the first four and a half minutes of the third quarter.
Cleveland would maintain their comfortable lead through the rest of the quarter, entering the final period on top 84-68.
Dallas went on a nice run midway through the fourth quarter, getting it down to a seven-point game after scoring 11 unanswered points. The Cavs would lead 89-82 with 6:42 to play.
Barea would cut it to a five-point game with a beautiful floater with just under five minutes left.
After Irving got it back to a seven-point game, Devin Harris hit a big three-pointer with 3:54 left to make it 93-89 in favor of Cleveland.
Love would knock down two clutch free throws to get it back to a six-point lead.
Zaza Pachulia answered back with a pair of free throws.
The Mavs made a crucial stop on the other end and Nowitzki found Pachulia for an easy layup to trim the Cavs’ lead to 95-93 with 2:59 remaining.
Tristan Thompson was called for an offensive foul on the other end, giving the Mavs the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead, but Nowitzki missed a good look from beyond the arc.
Irving turned it right back over to Dallas, but Harris missed a three-point attempt and the Cavs would get possession back with 1:56 to play.
Irving came through with a timely layup to make it a four-point game with 1:36 left.
Dirk responded with a typical jumper he has made a Hall of Fame Career living off of, making it a two-point game with 1:11 remaining.
Irving missed a three, but Barea turned it over with an unforced error, giving the Cavs the ball back with 36 seconds to go, still ahead by two.
Irving gave it right back to Dallas with an errant pass, but Irving stole a pass from Harris intended for Nowitzki, forcing the Mavs to foul the point guard to shoot two free throws.
Irving knocked down both calmly to make it 99-95 with 2.3 seconds remaining.
Deron Williams would hit a three at the buzzer, but it wouldn’t be enough, as the Cavs held off the Mavs 99-98.
Irving finished with a game-high 33 points.
Love had an impressive night with 23 points and 18 rebounds.
Frye was great off the bench, scoring 14 points.
Nowitzki and Lee were the only two players who could get going in the first three quarters for the Mavericks, as each scored 20 points.
Barea was a huge spark for Dallas in the fourth quarter, scoring nine of his total 17 points to bring the Mavs back in the game.
With the win, the Cavs improve to 48-19 on the season and are now 4-12 since 2014-2015 when LeBron does not play.
The Cavs are off Thursday before heading to Florida for back-to-back games against the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat on Friday and Saturday night.
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