Cleveland Cavaliers score 69 points in first half, beat Rockets 124-89 for fifth straight win

CLEVELAND, Ohio — With the Browns in the grips of a COVID outbreak and the Guardians dark because of MLB’s lockout, it’s good to know that the Cavs are still the best sports story in town.

The Cavs, with five players in double figures, won their fifth straight game on Wednesday night, a 124-89 victory over the Rockets at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. They’ve won nine of their last 11 games, and in each of those wins their margin of victory has been 10 or more points.

Not only are the Cavaliers scoring at a high rate, they’re also stopping the opposition from scoring. They entered the game ranked second in the NBA in points allowed by the opposition at 101.9. The Rockets, with five players unavailable because of injuries, didn’t come close to that even though they were coming off a 132-126 win over Atlanta.

The Cavs 35-point win was their largest since they beat Dallas by 38 points, 129-35, on Nov. 25, 2016.

Darius Garland led the Cavs with 21 points, followed by Isaac Okoro with 20, Dean Wade with 16, Kevin Love with 15 and Lauri Markkanen with 12. It was Garland’s 11th game this season with 20 or more points as he went 7-for-11 (.636) from the field.

Okoro, deadly from the corner against the Rockets, has scored 15 or more points in his last four games.

It’s been a tough go-round for the Rockets. At one point this season they lost 15 straight games. They are 9-19 overall and 2-13 on the road.

Houston coach Stephen Silas had to leave the game in the first half because of deyhdration. In the third quarter, guard D.J. Augustin was ejected for consecutive technical fouls.

The Cavs didn’t score 81 points in the first half as they did Saturday against the Kings, but they did score 69 against the Rockets.

The scoring frenzy began late in the first quarter when Ricky Rubio started to dish out assists like Santa at Christmas. He recorded his 5,000th career assist on Monday night against Miami, and Wednesday he seemed to add 1,000 more in the first two quarters.

He had four in the first quarter along with five points. Rubio added four more in the second quarter as the Cavs went into the locker room with a 69-38 lead.

Rubio finished the night with a season-high 12 assists, four steals and seven points.

“What Ricky does means a lot,” said Garland. “It gives me a little break to come off the ball. I can get some cheap, easy buckets because I know he’s always going to try and find me. He does that with everybody.

“If I’m open, I know he’s going to try and find me. It’s the same with his teammates. He makes life a little easier.”

In the last seconds of the first quarter, Rubio stole the ball and passed behind his back to Ed Davis for a nifty basket as time expired. Rubio’s steal and pass and Davis’ bucket gave the Cavs a 35-16 lead. It also brought the whole team onto the floor under the Rockets’ basket to celebrate.

In the third quarter, Rubio combined with Okoro to bring the crowd to its feet once again. Rubio fed Okoro with a perfect pass as Okoro slammed the ball home over three Houston defenders for a 88-50 lead with 5:02 left in the quarter.

“I’ve seen him dunk over a couple guys, but not three guys,” Garland.

Rubio’s 12 assists came in the first three quarters. He set up Okoro three times, Garland, Davis, Cedi Osman and Kevin twice and Lauri Markkanen once.

Garland led the Cavs with 17 first-half points, as he went 3-for-4 on 3-pointers. Okoro, who hit three pointers from the right and left corners, followed Garland with 11 points. Garland ended the second quarter with a layup at the buzzer

Wade, who got the start for Evan Mobley, added nine points in the first half.

He’s hip

Mobley did not play Wednesday night because of a sore right hip. Wade started in his place. Mobley is averaging 13.8 points, 11 rebounds and 1.84 blocks per game.

“We have depth on his team,” said coach J.B Bickerstaff. “Dean’s versatility allows us to continue to play big and play similar lineups to when we’re fully healthy. So we can still do the same thing systematically and schematically.

“We can play the same, we don’t have to go somewhere else. So, his ability to play multiple positions, rebound the ball, guard multiple positions and make shots is an advantage for us.”

Next

The Cavs travel to Milwaukee to play the Bucks on Saturday. Game time is 9 p.m. ET.