Cavaliers grind out a bounce back win over the Pelicans

Cleveland Cavaliers rebound with an ugly win

The Cleveland Cavaliers bounced right back after a disappointing loss to win a hard-fought 93-90 win over the visiting New Orleans Pelicans. It sure wasn’t pretty, but the Cavs were just happy to secure the victory after the final buzzer sounded.

With tipoff just about 24 hours after falling in an upset to the Detroit Pistons on the road, Cleveland appeared to have brought over the same sluggishness that doomed them up in Michigan and fell into an early hole.

After playing catchup for the majority of the game, the Cavaliers took one of their rare leads of the night just when it mattered the most. The home team went ahead by two points following a pair of timely free throws from Isaac Okoro with under a minute left on the clock and successfully held on to win in an absolute grind-out contest.

Without starting point guard Darius Garland, Cleveland’s latest two-way player Brandon Goodwin stepped up to tie his career-high of 21 points to lead all Cavaliers scorers in the win. Veteran All-Star forward and now Sixth Man of the Year candidate Kevin Love also came through the clutch and finished with 15 points and 11 boards.

Cavs looking to build another streak

Another one of the team’s primary reserves Cedi Osman, mostly known only for his scoring ability, tallied a career-high 12 assists while starting as an unorthodox point guard in place of Garland, displaying Cleveland’s next-man-up mantra that made them so successful this season.

Notching their 31st win against 20 losses, the Cavs remain in fourth place but are now only one full game behind the first-place Chicago Bulls team in a suffocatingly competitive Eastern Conference.

With All-Star weekend quickly approaching, Cavaliers fans continue to push for Garland and Jarrett Allen to be selected as reserves in the main event as Cleveland prepares to host the festivities. Their play surely merits consideration, and it will be up to the NBA coaches to make the selections that would be announced on Thursday.

The Cleveland Cavaliers look to start a new winning streak by opening the month of February with a pair of road games with scheduled visits with the Houston Rockets and the Charlotte Hornets on the 2nd and 4th, respectively.