If the Cleveland Cavaliers hope to keep their perfect start intact, they will have to do it while playing the second night of a back-to-back, hitting the road to face the Washington Wizards on Saturday.
Dean Wade and Donovan Mitchell put up 19 points apiece to lead six Cleveland scorers in double figures in a 113-101 home win against the Detroit Pistons on Friday. Jarrett Allen recorded 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Evan Mobley followed his 25-point effort from the Cavaliers’ 136-106 win at Toronto on Wednesday with 16 points vs. Detroit.
“We’re a selfless team,” Allen said. “I think we’re able to sacrifice everything for each other, night in, night out. None of us cracked 20 (points) tonight, and everybody felt (like they) had a good night.”
The Cavaliers are off to a 2-0 start in their first season under coach Kenny Atkinson. The former Brooklyn Nets boss replaced J.B. Bickerstaff, who was on the Detroit sideline for the Friday contest.
Most recently an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors, including the organization’s NBA championship team in 2021-22, Atkinson brings offensive insight to a Cleveland squad that ranked among the league’s best on defense over the previous two seasons but sometimes struggled to score.
Balanced shooting and ball movement buoyed the Cleveland offense through the first two games under Atkinson. The Cavaliers combined for 29 assists against Toronto and 28 against Detroit.
Eight Cleveland players dished at least two assists on Friday, led by Darius Garland with six and Mitchell with five. Ty Jerome, who scored 13 points off the bench, doled out four assists.
“With the amount of weapons we have, it’s pretty easy (to score),” Wade said. “They create so much space and the defense has to over-help.”
Washington, which is coming off posting a franchise-worst record of 15-67 in 2023-24, opened its 2024-25 campaign with a 122-102 loss against the reigning NBA champion Boston Celtics on Thursday.
Jordan Poole scored 26 points, but Kyle Kuzma was Washington’s only other starter to hit double figures, putting up 12 points. Jonas Valanciunas finished with 18 points and five rebounds off the bench in his Wizards debut.
Reflective of a likely rebuilding season for Washington, the starting lineup against Boston featured a 20-year-old, second-year player Bilal Coulibaly, and a pair of 19-year-old rookies, Carlton Carrington and Alexandre Sarr.
Carrington finished with three points, three rebounds, two assists and two blocks in his NBA debut. Sarr had two points, five rebounds and two blocks.
A third rookie, 20-year-old Kyshawn George, had four points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench.
“It’s not about Game 10. It’s not about Game 30. It’s about what we’re doing next year. It’s about what we’re doing in a couple of years,” Poole said, according to the Washington Post, following the Thursday loss. “And it’s a ‘be in the present’ type of thing, and it’s a ‘day by day’ thing. So I think everybody in the locker room knows that, and we just love coming to work every day and getting better, and over the course of time, everything will take care of itself.”
