Cavaliers falter at home vs Warriors to lose two straight

Cleveland Cavaliers fail to complete comeback at home

The Cleveland Cavaliers tried to dig out of a deep hole but fell short in a 120-114 loss at home against the Golden State Warriors. With an uncharacteristic defeat at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, the Cavs are now 19-5 at home and 28-19 overall.

Superstar guard Donovan Mitchell (groin) remained out for the second-straight game and the Cavaliers once again turned to Darius Garland, who led Cleveland with 31 points, nine assists, and two steals in a losing effort to the star-less Warriors team.

Once more, the young Cavs team found themselves on the back foot, trailing for nearly three and a half quarters and by as much as 20 in a game that seems hopeless midway through the third period. However, if there is an applaudable trait of this squad, it is surely their fighting spirit.

Undeterred by the seemingly insurmountable deficit, the home team raced back to cut it to within four points with just two minutes remaining in the match but simply ran out of steam to complete the comeback attempt against a team that made more than half of their 43 attempts from deep.

The Cavs need to regroup amid injuries

Not having Mitchell certainly put the Cavaliers on the back foot in each game they played, but different guys had been stepping up for the most part. Tonight though, Jarret Allen and Isaac Okoro played poorly despite coming off a strong stretch of games of late.

Caris LeVert helped out with 22 points, while Evan Mobley had 17. The backup duo of Kevin Love and Cedi Osman finally upped their game back to form and chipped in a combined 25 points off the bench, but the Warriors’ early lead was simply too much to overcome.

Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff could have certainly used both Mitchell and recent returnee Ricky Rubio during that pivotal third quarter where the visiting team blitzed the Cavs while playing without stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green.

With another loss, the Cleveland Cavaliers remain stuck in fifth but are still well within striking distance of chasing a top-three spot in the uber-competitive Eastern Conference. But first, they will need to find a way to bounce back against the formidable Milwaukee Bucks in less than 24 hours.