LOS ANGELES -- The Cleveland Cavaliers’ winning streak is over.
Playing in the same building as Sunday, on the second night of a back-to-back, the Cavs crumbled late in the fourth quarter, blew a 13-point lead and lost to the Los Angeles Clippers, 119-117. It’s Cleveland’s first loss since the season opener in Toronto on Oct. 19.
“How we finish. The decisions we made,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said when asked what stands out about the loss. “We had the game where we wanted it. But we just didn’t close it out. This is a game we should have won.”
It was all there for them. A ninth straight triumph. A chance to extend the league’s longest streak. An L.A. sweep for the first time since 2016-17. A still-undefeated road trip. Another statement road victory.
And then ... they threw it away.
Cleveland led by a game-high 13 points at the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter. It was a 112-100 advantage with 4:37 remaining. But the Cavs lost their way, becoming stagnant on offense while missing seven straight shots and committing three turnovers. Those stumbles fueled a 15-0 Clippers run, with Los Angeles retaking the lead for the first time since the opening seconds of the fourth quarter on Paul George’s driving And-1 over Isaac Okoro.
There was one more chance to salvage a gut-wrenching defeat. Down by two, with 1.4 seconds left, following a few late-game missed free throws on each side (some on purpose), Kevin Love grabbed the rebound and launched a full-court heave that bounced off the backboard as the buzzer sounded.
The Cavs’ stunning collapse was complete. The Clippers finished the game on a 21-6 surge, making 18 free throws in the fourth quarter.
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George, the reigning Western Conference Player of the Week who Bickerstaff called one of the league’s best two-way players prior to tipoff, finished with 26 points, five rebounds and three assists. He was one of six players in double figures for the Clippers.
The Cavs were led by Donovan Mitchell, who poured in a game-high 30 points, including eight in the fourth quarter. Six of those fourth-quarter points -- a pair of back-to-back 3′s -- came on the first two possessions. Mitchell went about seven minutes without a shot attempt as the Clippers sent extra bodies in his direction and increased their feistiness in hopes of denying him touches.
“We kind of got out of sorts a little bit,” Mitchell said when asked about the late-game offense. “We will learn from this and they did a lot of things we will see come playoff time. It was a test. There were things we did well and things we can get better at.”
Second-year standout Evan Mobley, playing less than five miles from his old USC stomping grounds and with about 20 friends and family in attendance, added a season-best 26 points on 12 of 18 shooting before fouling out. With more determination from the start, following a passive performance one day earlier, Mobley repeatedly worked his way into the paint for fadeaways, jump-hooks and dunks.
“I was just trying to stay aggressive and really just set the tone for my team,” Mobley said. “The ball found me in a lot of spots and I was hitting my shots. The Clippers’ defense kind of played into my role a little bit. Just going to try to stay aggressive over the next games.”
Darius Garland had 19 points, but tallied just three in the decisive fourth, going 1 of 4 from the field and committing three of the team’s six miscues.
“Six turnovers in the fourth quarter against a team this caliber is hard to overcome,” Bickerstaff said. “We fouled in the backcourt multiple times and they were able to walk up and get to the free-throw line, so things like that we will fix.”
Cleveland scored the first six points of the night and led by 12 points in the first quarter. After zero lead changes or ties in the first 15 minutes of the game, there were 17 lead changes and seven ties over the final 33 minutes.
The Clippers got the final, most important, one.
“Tip our hat off to them. That’s a good team over there,:” Garland said. “I’m going to look over the film and see what we can do better.”
Up next
The Cavs will continue their road trip in Sacramento against the Kings on Wednesday night. Tipoff is set for 10 p.m.
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