The Cleveland Cavaliers walked out of Memphis on Monday night with a 142-126 win and a box score that looked like something out of a video game. The short-handed Grizzlies tied the NBA’s single-game mark with 29 made three-pointers, yet Cleveland still managed to pull away after halftime and lock up its 50th victory of the season.
Per the Associated Press via the Washington Post, Memphis went 29-for-59 from beyond the arc, a blistering 49.2% clip, with nine different players hitting at least one three. Reserves Adama Bal and Dariq Whitehead each drilled six triples and Lucas Williamson added five, an unlikely barrage that still was not enough once Cleveland settled in after a shaky second quarter.
How Cleveland Stopped The Bleed
The Cavs absorbed the long-range onslaught by owning everything inside the arc and on the glass. According to the game box score, they outrebounded Memphis 48-31 and shot 52-of-89 (58%) from the field, turning defensive stops into efficient trips on the other end. With Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley controlling the paint and both Donovan Mitchell and James Harden sitting out the second half of a back-to-back, veteran guard Dennis Schroder stepped in as a stabilizer, finishing with 22 points and 11 assists, per the ESPN box score.
Those margins in rebounding and interior scoring turned Memphis’s historic three-point night into more of a statistical oddity than a backbreaking upset. For the Cavs, it was a reminder that their size and efficiency can paper over a lot of defensive sins on the perimeter, at least for a night in early April.
What This Means For The Playoffs
Local reaction was less celebratory and more “nice win, but let’s talk about the defense.” Commentators pointed out that when opponents heat up from deep, Cleveland’s perimeter rotations can get exposed in a hurry. WKYC noted that even this depleted Memphis group forced the Cavs into multiple late-game defensive adjustments, and warned that a deeper, healthier playoff opponent having a similar shooting night could turn a fun shootout into a much uglier grind.
Cleveland will not have to wait long to test its self-diagnosis. The Cavs open a two-game set against Atlanta on Wednesday, while Memphis closes its regular season with three straight on the road before the postseason. Both teams get an immediate chance to tinker. For Cleveland, Monday served as a loud reminder: rebounding and interior scoring can soak up one freakish shooting performance, but surviving a full series will require sharper rotations and tougher closeouts when the threes start flying.
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