CLEVELAND (AP) – There have been flashes of brilliance from Evan Mobley, tantalising moments that convinced the Cavaliers he’ll dominate. Yesterday, he put it all together.
Mobley scored a career-high 38 points, Darius Garland added 21 and Cleveland bounced back from an embarrassing loss with a 114-102 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, who were again without injured star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Mobley made sure the Cavs shook off their awful performance in a 120-114 loss a night earlier to the Golden State Warriors, who beat Cleveland despite resting Stephen Curry and three other starters.
The 21-year-old Mobley finished 19 of 27 from the field and had his top scoring performance as a pro without making a free throw or three-pointer.
He added nine rebounds.
“That’s exactly what we want to see from four,” Garland said, referring to Mobley’s jersey.
“Him being aggressive. Him just finding his pocket and doing what he does best. I would love to see that every night.”
Mobley is only the fourth player since 1979, when the three-point line was adopted, to score at least 38 points without making a free throw or three-pointer. Hakeem Olajuwon, Alex English (twice) and George Gervin are the others.
“He was aggressive,” Cavs coach JB Bickerstaff said. “He was assertive. He was attack-minded. He was creating for himself and his teammates felt him rolling. I don’t think this is what he’s capable of.”
Mobley scored 12 of Cleveland’s first 15 points in the fourth and the Cavs, who were without star Donovan Mitchell due to a groin strain for the third straight game, put together a run to separate from the Bucks.
