Wizards fall badly to Cavaliers in Cleveland.
The Washington Wizards lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday, 118-87. Oh, it was an NBA Cup game.
The Cavs seem to like to pound the Wizards. Last season, they beat the Wizards 140-101 in memorable trip to Cleveland. The Wizards may have forgotten since accumulating after another 50 losses since that January 2024 game… and so they came into this one with zero energy, just like that game last season.
It was garbage time essentially from the end of the first quarter, when the Cavaliers led 35-20 coming out of the gates with just enough energy to take seriously the fundamentally flawed Wizards.
You probably ask what is the cover art? It’s the most interesting thing that happened tonight, when Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns waved to the fans during the first half.
Yeah, you get it.
Early in the third the score was at 70-45 at which point you’d expect the coaching staff to give the youngsters full rein. However, Jordan Poole and Jonas Valanciunas were still on the court. Why? Don’t ask me.
By the way, at that point Donovan Mitchell still was in single digits with just nine points, so not really any super performance from the stars on the other end. Just a result of the typical #SoWizards non-effort.
Poole led the Wizards plus/minus, from the bottom, with -25 on a #SoPoole 4-11 from the field, 1-4 from deep, 5 turnovers and 4 fouls in 24 minutes, to go with 2 rebounds and 4 assists.
Bub Carrington led the Wizards scorers with 13 points (tied with Poole and Valanciunas) and a team-high 36 minutes.
For the Cavaliers, Mitchell and Evan Mobley had 19, and former Wizards pick^ Jarrett Allen added 11 along with…just 3 boards. Mobley had 10 rebounds.
^ Editor’s Note: Allen was actually selected by the Brooklyn Nets using the pick Washington traded them to dump free agent prize Andrew Nicholson and acquire a couple of the worst months of Bojan Bogdanovic’s NBA career.