Career night from Evan Mobley not enough to lift Cavs over the Rockets

Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Evan Mobley stars in loss

The Cleveland Cavaliers figured in another disappointing outing to a bottom-ranked team, giving up a 115-104 loss on the road against the Houston Rockets. The Cavs appeared rudderless and could not get into a rhythm in a match they were favored to win.

Cleveland wasted a career-high 29-point effort from upcoming Rising Star Evan Mobley. The Rookie of the Year frontrunner shot 60 percent from the field while adding 12 rebounds in a game where his physicality was tested by the Rockets bigs.

Mobley’s Tower City partner Jarrett Allen had a relatively lackadaisical night after getting thrown off his game with an early benching caused by early foul trouble. Veteran forward Kevin Love picked up the slacked as one of the few bright spots for the Cavaliers with another huge double-double of 21 and 13.

Without their floor general in Darius Garland, the Cavaliers appeared rudderless and completely out of sync. After giving up an early advantage midway through the first period, the group was never able to recover. After playing catchup for the rest of the game, the Cavs ended up surrendering an almost identical final tally as in the upset loss to the Detroit Pistons last weekend.

Cavs need to pick it up before the All-Star weekend

The Cavs fall to fifth place following the loss and are now two full games behind the first-place Chicago Bulls team in a suffocatingly competitive Eastern Conference, squandering a golden opportunity to move up to third following a Philadelphia 76ers loss tonight.

While Cavaliers fans continue to push for Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen to be selected as reserves in the main event as Cleveland prepares to host the upcoming All-Star weekend, the absence of Garland and the slight drop-off in Allen’s recent production could possibly make the NBA coaches look elsewhere.

Both surely merit consideration but there are also plenty of other guys in the league who are making noise, and we will know if they make the cut once the selections are announced on Thursday.

On the other hand, Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro have already been announced as representatives for Cleveland in the Rising Stars Challenge, a sort of mini tournament taking place earlier that weekend for rookies, sophomores, and select NBA G League Ignite prospects.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will look to get back on the winning column as they remain on the road with an upcoming faceoff with the Charlotte Hornets on February 4.