CLEVELAND: The crowd at Quicken Loans Arena cheered for the Dallas Mavericks during pregame introductions, but the ovation was easier for Cavaliers coach Byron Scott to accept after his team knocked off the defending NBA champions.
The Mavericks became fan favorites in Cleveland by defeating LeBron James and the Miami Heat last summer in the finals. But earlier in the week, Scott said he didn’t want to hear Cavs fans cheer for the Mavericks.
Well, they did. Forward Dirk Nowitzki received the loudest applause, followed by former Cavs guard Delonte West.
However, Scott was willing to let it slide after the Cavs triumphed 91-88. The Mavericks are the first team with a record better than .500 that the Cavs have defeated this season.
“The bottom line is at the end of the game, they were cheering for us,” Scott said. “That’s all that matters.”
Rookie guard Kyrie Irving gave the home crowd reason to voice its support in crunch time. In the final three minutes, he drove to the basket and made two crucial layups.
The first one gave the Cavs (9-13) the lead for good with 2:35 left in the fourth quarter. The second extended the Cavs’ advantage to three points with 15.8 seconds left.
“I just feel my teammates’ confidence down the stretch,” Irving said. “They continue to give me the ball, and they have the confidence in me to make the right play.”
Irving shot 9-of-17 from the field and had a team-high 20 points. He played nearly 36 minutes and finished with seven assists and only one turnover.
“He was a great draft choice,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “And he’s going to be a foundation piece here for more than a decade.”
Scott said he played Irving less than six minutes in the third quarter to save him for a larger workload in the fourth. Irving responded with a strong finish less than a week after he made the first game-winning shot of his young career against the Boston Celtics.
“I thought in that fourth quarter, he was pretty fresh,” Scott said. “We put the ball in his hands and let him make decisions. He’s got the unique ability to get to the basket, and when he gets there, he has a great way of finishing.”
After Cavs forward Anderson Varejao made a floater in the lane on an assist from Antawn Jamison with 41.4 seconds left, the Mavericks (14-11) countered. They cut their deficit to a point when guard Jason Terry made two free throws.
The Mavericks, however, fell short as forward Brendan Wright missed a desperation 3-pointer as time expired. The Mavericks made their final field goal of the game with 4:14 left, when Terry hit a 3-pointer.
Varejao had 17 points and 17 rebounds (seven offensive). He has 61 rebounds in his last four games.
Jamison finished with 19 points and nine rebounds. Swingman Alonzo Gee added 12 points off the bench.
Nowitzki shot 5-of-5 from the field in the first half and finished 9-of-15 with a game-high 24 points. Terry scored 17. West, in his return to Cleveland, and Wright added 11 apiece.
The Cavs were cold early. The team shot 15-of-45 (33.3 percent) from the field in the first half and trailed 51-43 at halftime.
Two plays served as microcosms for the Cavs’ poor shooting in the first couple of quarters. Forwards Luke Harangody and Jamison each shot a 3-pointer in the first half that deflected off the backboard without hitting the rim.
The Cavs, though, turned it around and built a six-point lead heading into the final quarter. They used a 13-0 run to outscore the Mavericks 27-13 in the third quarter and held on in the waning moments to snap a two-game losing streak.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, suffered their third loss in as many games. Nowitzki and Co. rallied, but 21 turnovers haunted them in the end. The Cavs finished with nine turnovers.
“I think it lets us know that we can beat some of the best teams if we play the right way,” Scott said. … “One thing it can do is give us confidence that we can play with the big boys.”
Both teams were playing on the second night of a back-to-back. The Cavs improved to 2-4 in that category while the Mavericks fell to 6-3.
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com.
