Garland scores 26 as Cavaliers race past Rockets 113-95

HOUSTON (AP)— Darius Garland scored 26 points and Evan Mobley added 21 as theCleveland Cavaliers routed the short-handed Houston Rockets 113-95Thursday night despite missing Donovan Mitchell.

Garland, thefifth overall pick in the 2019 draft who turned 23 on Thursday,also had nine assists and four rebounds for the Cavs.

“Darius hascontinued to grow,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “This isa place where we’ve seen him grow the most is understanding themoment, understanding each game and how it’s different and what ittakes from him to be a tone-setter.”

The Cavaliersled by 26 at halftime after scoring 74 points in the first twoperiods. The Rockets cut it to 22 on a basket by rookie JabariSmith Jr. with 9½ minutes left in the third. But Cleveland scoredthe next 10 points, with 3s by Garland and Dean Wade, to extend thelead to 89-57 midway through the quarter.

“Everythinghas been that hunt for consistency,” Bickerstaff said. “We’ve hadleads before and we get a little lax and loose with the ball andthings like that. But I thought they had the right approach for themajority of the game tonight.”

The Rocketsended the quarter with an 11-3 run, with five points from rookieTyTy Washington, but they still trailed 97-74 entering thefourth.

Tari Easonopened the fourth with a tip-in shot for the Rockets before Garlandand Cedi Osman made consecutive 3-pointers to push Cleveland’sadvantage to 103-76.

The Cavaliersscored five straight points, capped by a 3 from Wade, to make it111-89 with about 3 1/2 minutes left, and Cleveland’s starters satdown after that.

Mitchell satout for the fourth time in five games with a groin strain. Hereturned Tuesday night after missing three games, but aggravated itnear the end of that game to keep him out Thursday. Mitchell, whoranks ninth in the NBA by averaging 28.3 points a game, was named astarter for the Eastern Conference in next month’s NBA All-StarGame.

Eason had 18points and 11 rebounds to lead Houston. The Rockets were withoutEric Gordon, Jae’Sean Tate and Kevin Porter Jr. as they lost theirsecond straight since snapping a 13-game skid Monday night.

The Rockets,who have the NBA’s worst record at 11-38, committed 22 turnoversand made just five of 21 3-pointers. Jalen Green, the secondoverall pick in the 2021 draft, was 2 of 9 for six points afterscoring a career-high 42 points in Houston’s win over Minnesota onMonday.

“They’re oneof the best defensive teams in the league, so the fact that theyforced 22 turnovers wasn’t super surprising since going in knowingwe didn’t have three of our main guys who handle the basketball,”Silas said.

TIP-INS

Cavaliers:Kevin Love sat out with back spasms. … Wade scored 15 off thebench. ... Jarrett Allen had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Rockets:Gordon missed the game with right knee soreness. … Tate was out aspart of injury management after returning from an ankle sprain. …Porter missed his eighth straight game with a bruised leftfoot.

ALL-STAR MITCHELL

In the wakeof Mitchell’s selection as an All-Star game starter, Bickerstaffraved about how he’s approached his job in his first season inCleveland after an off-season trade from Utah.

“I think it’sthe respect piece and just a compliment to the job that he’s done,”Bickerstaff said. “To be able to come into a completely newenvironment and quite possibly have the best year so far in hiscareer says a lot about him.”