CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, Evan Mobley added 23 and the Cleveland Cavaliers held off the Milwaukee Bucks 118-113 on Sunday night to win their home opener.
Mobley was a career-best 12 for 12 on free throws along with eight rebounds and six assists. The last Cavaliers player to go perfect from the line when making 12 or more attempts was LeBron James on Nov. 5, 2014, against Utah. James was also 12 of 12.
It was the 23rd time in franchise history a Cleveland player made all of his free throws when making 12 or more trips.
Sam Merrill added 17 points and De'Andre Hunter — who missed the first two games due to a bruised right knee — scored 16 as Cleveland won its second straight after dropping its opener.
Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo was one assist shy of a triple-double with 40 points and 14 rebounds. AJ Green had 20 points.
The Bucks were missing Kyle Kuzma (left ankle sprain), Cole Anthony (illness) and Kevin Porter Jr. (left ankle sprain).
Milwaukee trailed by 18 midway through the third quarter but a driving dunk by Ryan Rollins tied it at 98 with 6:54 remaining.
After Rollins' dunk, the Cavaliers scored seven straight points on Hunter's stepback jumper, Lonzo Ball's 3-pointer and Mitchell's 14-footer.
Milwaukee made one final rally and got within 114-112 on Green's 30-footer with 4.2 seconds remaining, but Mobley made a pair of free throws with 3.5 seconds left to make it a two-possession game.
Cleveland was up 81-63 midway through the third before Milwaukee closed the quarter on 21-5 run to make it close going into the final 12 minutes.
Bucks: Host the New York Knicks on Tuesday night.
Cavaliers: At Detroit Pistons on Monday night.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Murder for Two Read moreMurder For Two
Kicks or Treats: Dance for Free Week at CY Danceworks! Read moreKicks or Treats Dance for Free Week at CY Danceworks
cube_corner said:
+1
LittleFoot said:
LittleFoot said:
In short - learning difficult and refined things makes you a better person.
LittleFoot said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.