Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points and Evan Mobley added 25 points and 12 rebounds as the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers did just enough to beat the San Antonio Spurs 114-113 on Friday.
The Cavaliers (62-15) won their third straight contest and reduced their magic number to clinch the best record in the Eastern Conference to one. Cleveland leads defending league champion Boston by five game with five regular season games left.
Cleveland was up by 23 points late in the second quarter and by 17 at halftime before the Spurs rallied to make it 88-82 late in the third. The Cavaliers rebuilt their advantage to 16 points on Mobley’s dunk with 8:33 to play, but San Antonio refused to relent, drawing within 112-107 on a layup and a 3-pointer from Chris Paul, the latter with 2:16 remaining.
After the Cavaliers’ Darius Garland sank a jumper, Harrison Barnes poured in back-to-back 3-pointers to bring San Antonio within a point with 28.6 seconds to play. Garland then missed a desperation shot from beyond the arc with 4.6 seconds left, giving the Spurs a chance at a final shot to win.
Barnes missed a contested, driving layup at the buzzer, allowing Cleveland to escape with the victory.
Garland finished with 19 points while De’Andre Hunter had 18 for the Cavaliers.
Devin Vassell led the Spurs (32-45) with 24 points. Barnes added 23, Stephon Castle racked up 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds and Julian Champagnie scored 15 points for San Antonio, which has dropped six of its past seven games.
The Cavaliers never trailed, going up by a dozen points after Mitchell’s 3-pointer with 1:52 to go in the opening quarter before settling for a 38-28 lead after 12 minutes of play behind Mobley’s 18 points in the period.
Cleveland built on the margin throughout the second period. Mitchell’s trey with 2:39 left in the quarter stoked the lead to 23 points. San Antonio finished with a 11-5 run to end the half within 67-50.
Mobley’s 19 points led all scorers before halftime, with Hunter adding 13 and Mitchell hitting for 10 for Cleveland. Castle paced the Spurs with 15 points and Vassell had 14 before the break.
San Antonio charged back to within six points when Champagnie canned a 3-pointer with 1:40 to play in the third quarter.
