Cavaliers big second half lead to 146-134 win over T-Wolves
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - On Saturday afternoon the Cleveland Cavaliers (21-18, 13-9 home) welcomed the Minnesota Timberwolves (25-13, 11-7 road) to Rocket Arena for a rare 1 pm contest. The game was a back-to-back. The two clubs played in Minneapolis on Thursday night with the Timberwolves holding off a late Cavs comeback and securing the win 131-122.
The result was much different as the Cavs ran away in the second half to complete a 146-134 win; the score was much closer than the game was sending the 19,432 home happy.
It was apparent early on from Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo that Minnesota wanted to play bully ball. The game was back and forth early with the Cavs taking an 11-10 lead with 8:31 left on the first quarter clock when Donovan Mitchell drove the lane and scored. With 7:25 left in the opening quarter Jarrett Allen picked up what could be one of the weakest foul calls in NBA history when Edwards turned and tripped over Allen’s leg. It was Allen’s first personal of the game. With 4:39 left in the first, the Timberwolves took a 22-17 lead when Edwards drained a three. Nothing was easy in the opening quarter for either team. With 3:23 left the Cavs took advantage of the Timberwolves turnover and Tyson scored at the other end to cut Minnesota’s lead to 22-19. With 1:49 left Jaylon Tyson drained a three courtesy of De’Andre Hunter to close the gap to 27-26 in favor of the T-Wolves. As has been a problem the entire season the Cavs defense disappeared and Minnesota took advantage building their lead to 33-29. Tyson did hit a three with 16 second left on the clock and Minnesota led 33-29 after 12 minutes. Tyson led all scorers with eight first quarter points. Julius Randle led the T-Wolves with seven. Minnesota shot 57% (13 of 23) from the field in the opening quarter when the Cavs shot 54% (13 of 24). From three-point range Minnesota shot 50% (5 of 10) while Cleveland shot 38% (3 of 8). The T-Wolves outrebounded the Cavs 11-9.
The Cavs tied the game 33-33 with just 49 seconds gone in the second quarter when Hunter was fouled by Naz Reid and he hit both free throws. Minnesota then went on an 8-0 run to take a 41-33 lead with 10:10 left. With 8:13 remaining in the opening half the Minnesota lead was 47-35 and Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson took a timeout. With 7:21 left Jaden McDaniel fouled Sam Merrill hard behind the three-point line. Merrill drained all three free throws, and the T-Wolves lead was cut to seven points. With 6:45 left Garland hit a jumper and cut Minnesota’s lead to 47-42. The T-Wolves then turned the ball over, but the Cavs could not take advantage. The 6’4 Merrill was then run over by the 6’8 Joe Ingles and Merrill was called for the foul. The Cavs recovered and cut the lead to 47-44 with 5:33 left after Merrill stole the ball courtesy of a bad pass by the perfect Edwards and Garland scored at the other end. With 4:15 left in the opening half Minnesota hit their 10th three pointer extending their lead to 53-46. With 3;15 remaining Evan Mobley hit Merrill at the top of the arc, Merrill was wide open, he hit the three and cut the Minnesota lead to 55-52. After Minnesota turned the ball over Mitchell was fouled by Ingles with 2:55 left. After and Atkinson timeout Mitchell hit both free throws and the Cavs trailed by one point, but once again the defense failed and the t-Wolves Reid drained a three extending the Minnesota advantage back to four points. With 2:03 remaining the Cavs cut the lead to one point. Minnesota continued to dominate from three-point range as Cleveland could not stop them. When the final buzzer sounded for the halftime break Minnesota led 65-63. The Wolves were leading Cleveland in every offensive category at the break, and it wasn’t close and they also outrebounded the Cavs in the opening half 20-17. Mitchell led all scorers with 14 points. Reid led the T-Wolves with 13 first half points.
12 seconds into the second half Garland tied the game 65-65. The Cavs then took a 68-67 lead with 10:57 remaining when Merrill hit a three. With 8:00 left the Cavs took a 75-73 lead when Mobley slammed home a Mitchell miss. 35 seconds later Mobley dunked again giving the Cavs a 777-73 lead, forcing T-Wolves coach Chris Finch to take a timeout. With 4:48 left in the third quarter the Cavs built their lead to 84-77 when Garland scored in the paint. The T-Wolves cut the lead to 86-84 and then Mobley was fouled at the other end by Rudy Goebert. Mobley hit one of two and gave the Cavs an 87-84 lead with 3:41 left. The Cavs scored the next five points to take a 92-85 lead with 3:00 after Mitchell scored. The Cavs lead was 99-88 with 1:18 left in the third when Mitchell was fouled and hit both free throws. When the quarter ended the Cavs lead 99-91 outscoring Minnesota 36-26 in the period. The Cavs outshot the Wolves 60% (14 of 23) to 50% (11 of 22) from the field in the period. The Cavs shot 63% (5 of 8) from long range while Minnesota shot 20% (1 of 5). Minnesota was still outrebounding the Cavs 31-27. Mitchell was leading all scorers with 26 points through three. Edwards was not far behind, leading Minnesota with 25.
The Cavs started to pull away, leading 120-109 with 6:53 remaining in the contest. By 5:53 the Cavs lead was 14 and then 17 with 5:32 left when Allen pulled down a defensive rebound and then slammed it home at the other end and was fouled by Randle. With 2:50 left Mobley was at the foul line, and he made one of two to give the Cavs a 137-121 lead.
The Cavs had five players who scored 20+ points led by Mitchell with 28, Mobley finished with 24, Tyson 23, Garland 22, and Merrill 20. Allen finished with 16 but had a double double as he also pulled down 11 rebounds. Edwards led the T-Wolves with 25 in the losing effort. Reid had 23 and Randle dropped 22.
The Cavs shot 60% (55 of 92) from the field outshooting Minnesota who shot 57% (51 of 89). Both teams shot 50% from longe range as Minnesota hit 16 of 32 and the Cavs hit 15 of 30. Turnovers became a key factor in the second half as the Cavs defense forced 10 T-Wolves turnovers resulting in 16 points. On a rare occasion the Cavs got the win but were outrebounded 40-31. Cleveland did outscore Minnesota in the paint 68-58.
Atkinson commented after the game that Minnesota is a physical team, and he was glad that the Cavs out physicalled them today. He was very happy with what he saw from Allen, Mobley, and Garland. He mentioned Garland’s energy.
Next up for the Cavs on Monday night at 7 pm when they host the Utah Jazz (13-24, 4-13, road) 13th in the West.
The Jazz lead the all-time series 62-54. But the Cavs lead at home (Cleveland Arena, Richfield Coliseum, Rocket Arena) 36-22.
This is the first meeting of the season. Last year the Cavs swept the season series 2-0 and have won three in a row at Rocket Arena and four in a row overall.
POSTED 01/10/2026 16:00
Lake County Sentinel
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Cavs point guard Darius Garland scores two of his 22 points in the Cavs 146-134 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday at Rocket Arena. Photo by Tommy Shirer
