CLEVELAND, Jan. 30 (BNA): Cedi Osman tied his career high with 29 points and matched a franchise record by making all seven of his three-pointers as the Cleveland Cavaliers built a 40-point lead en route to a 122-99 defeat of the Los Angeles Clippers Sunday night.
All-Star Donovan Mitchell scored 11 points in his return to Cleveland after missing three games with a strained groin, the Associated Press reports.
The Cavaliers are never behind and have their biggest lead of the season at 82-42 in Jarrett Allen’s first 3-pointer since November 5, 2021.
“It was a great feeling, everyone was sharing this moment with me,” Osman said. “We played great attacking, and it was a great game for everyone. We have a good group of players who support each other at all times.”
The Clippers, who have won five in a row, chose not to dress Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Reggie Jackson, who all played Saturday in Atlanta. Officially, George and Leonard did not play due to a right knee problem and Jackson has an inflamed right Achilles tendon.
Turkey’s national team member Osman Osman took 11 out of 13 shots at Turkish Heritage Night at Rocket Mortgage Field. He joined Kyrie Irving and Mo Williams as the only Cavaliers to go past the bracket 7 of 7 in a game.
“That’s what Turkish Heritage Night will do for you,” Allen said with a laugh. “Everything, except throwing the ball, got in. He did everything he was supposed to do all night.”
Darius Garland combined for 16 points and 10 assists, and Allen had 15 points and eight rebounds for Cleveland, who had the best home record in the East at 21-5.
The performance was in stark contrast to the Cavaliers’ 120-114 loss at home to Golden State nine days earlier, when the Warriors sat out Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins.
“Tonight was a similar situation, but we dealt with it seriously,” Othman said. “We knew Golden State was missing a lot of the pieces and we learned a hard lesson from it.”
Brandon Boston Jr. scored 24 points and Moses Brown had 13 points and 16 rebounds with Los Angeles. Freshman Jason Preston of Ohio University had season-highs of 12 points and eight assists.
The Clippers are 1-1 in a six-game road trip ending Feb. 6 in Brooklyn. They missed 16 of their first 17 three-pointers and finished 2 of 19.
“I had a couple of friends and family here so it was definitely a good night,” Preston said. “The longer I was there, the more confident I kept getting.”
welcome back
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue has led the Cavaliers to three consecutive NBA Finals appearances, winning their only championship in 2016. F. Kevin Love and Osman are the only two remaining players to have played for Lue.
“When you lose LeBron (James) and Kyrie (Irving), it usually takes a long time to come back,” said Law, who went 128-83 in four seasons with the Cavaliers. “To be where they are now, they’ve done a great job in making this team.
“It started with the Jarrett Allen trade, which was out of this world, and this year Donovan Mitchell took it to the next level.”
Tip-ins
Clippers: J. Terence Man gets an assist by an LA starter in the first half. Marcus Morris (injured rib) missed his third consecutive game and Robert Covington (for personal reasons) sat out his second game. JJ John Wall (tummy ache) last played January 13 against Denver. Two-way C. Brown was called up from Ontario in the G-League.
Cavaliers: Love (lower back spasms) was inactive for the third straight game. The 34-year-old has missed six matches due to injury since the beginning of December. Cleveland must win their next game to end their winning record for the fourth straight month. They haven’t started a winning season with four consecutive months since their 2015-16 title campaign.
next one
Clippers: Visit Chicago on Tuesday night.
Cavaliers: Host Miami on Tuesday night.