Darius Garland recorded a season-high 32 points and added 10 assists and a career-best eight rebounds to fuel the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers to a 116-101 victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday.
Garland shot 11 of 17 from the floor and 5 of 6 from 3-point range to send Cleveland to its season-high-tying fourth straight win. The Cavaliers also won four in a row last month before dropping a 97-94 decision to Washington on Nov. 10.
Jarrett Allen notched his sixth straight double-double by registering 28 points and 13 rebounds for Cleveland, which enjoyed a decided edge on the boards. The Cavaliers outrebounded the Wizards 54-33, including a 15-3 edge on the offensive glass.
Lauri Markkanen scored 15 points and Kevin Love added 13 off the bench for the Cavaliers, who shot 47.2 percent from the floor (42 of 89) and 43.3 percent from 3-point range (13 of 30).
While Cleveland capped a perfect three-game road trip to improve to 8-4 away from home, Washington sustained just its third loss in its 11 games in the nation’s capital this season.
Deni Avdija scored 16 points off the bench and Bradley Beal added 14 in a losing effort for the Wizards.
Allen bolted out of the blocks by making five of his first six shots from the floor to account for 11 of Cleveland’s first 13 points of the game. He finished the first quarter with 14 points to stake Cavaliers to a 34-29 lead.
Cleveland scored eight of the first 10 points in the second quarter to push its advantage to 42-31 before Washington’s Davis Bertans and Avdija each drained a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions. Undaunted, the Cavaliers began to pull away by scoring the final nine points of the quarter to claim a 65-46 lead at intermission.
Allen punctuated the final run by throwing down a dunk off an alley-oop pass from Ricky Rubio.
Cleveland scored 21 of the first 25 points of the third quarter to essentially seal the victory. Garland drained three 3-pointers in that stretch as the Cavaliers seized an 86-50 advantage.
Washington outscored Cleveland by a 29-17 margin in the fourth quarter, although the end result was never in doubt.
–Field Level Media
