MINNEAPOLIS — The Cleveland Cavaliers got off to a white hot start Friday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves and maintained their dominance throughout the night in yet another impressive road win, 123-106.
In the first quarter, the Cavs started things off with explosive offense and shut-down defense, outscoring the Timberwolves 20-4 in the first five minutes and they kept comfortable lead throughout the remainder of the game.
Leading the Cavs in scoring Friday was Jarrett Allen with 21 points, who posted a double-double with 10 rebounds in addition to two blocks and a steal.
Lauri Markkanen was almost perfect from the field, shooting 7-for-8 with 19 points and two steals. Issac Okoro put up 16 points and and block, while Darius Garland had a double-double of his own with 12 points and 12 assists in addition to a steal.
Rookie Evan Mobley continued his block party, batting down two shots against the Timberwolves while scoring 11 points and notching eight rebounds.
Off the bench, Kevin Love and Cedi Osman led the way as Love posted a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds in addition to a steal and a block, while Osman put up 13 points and three steals.
Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said that the team is still learning how to play disciplined, purposed basketball and maintain a lead, like successful, dominant teams do regularly and Friday's game was a good example of their hard work paying off.
"The challenge to our team tonight was: can we play 48 minutes of disciplined, purposed basketball?" Bickerstaff said. "I thought we came close to it. We had our moments but I thought we did a really good job setting the tone early."
The Cavs have a quick trip back home to Cleveland where they'll take on the Sacramento Kings Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Tipoff is at 8 p.m.
Camryn Justice is a digital content producer at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Twitter @camijustice.
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