Ty Jerome’s 15-point fourth quarter leads Cavs to victory

Cleveland can’t stop winning.

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies only play each other twice a season, but there always seems to be fireworks whenever they do square off. That happened again on Sunday as Donovan Mitchell once again found himself in the middle of a scuffle during Cleveland’s 129-123 victory.

Mitchell and Desmond Bane wrestled over a loose ball right in front of Cleveland’s bench in the middle of the third quarter. Things got heated once neither wanted to let go of the ball. Players from both teams came over to the scuffle.

Mitchell and Bane were both accessed technical fouls for their actions. That did little to stop the chippiness between both teams for the remainder of the game.

As for the action on the court, both Mitchell and Evan Mobley were phenomenal.

Mitchell set the tempo early on with 12 first-quarter points. He was aggressively looking for his shot with Darius Garland out of the game. This led to a narrow four-point advantage in the first quarter.

De’Andre Hunter helped the Cavs extend the lead by two in the second. He poured in eight points on 3-4 shooting in the second to help keep Cleveland’s offense humming.

Memphis cut into the lead some in the third led by nine points from Jaylen Wells to make it a five-point game.

This all just set the stage for the Ty Jerome takeover.

Jerome carried the offense for stretches in the fourth quarter. He poured in 15 points with seemingly more absurd shot attempts than the one that came before.

There’s a chaotic energy that Jerome plays with that’s hard to put your finger on. He’s simultaneously in control at all times but doesn’t look that way when you’re just observing. Jerome attempts crazy cross-court passes, isn’t afraid to pull from multiple steps beyond the arc, and is apt to take crazy floaters when he has only a little bit of daylight. The truly wild thing is... he’s shown to be exceptional at all of those things.

The Cavs rode that wave down the stretch to the victory.

Mobley showed how much he’s progressed on both sides of the ball. He spent portions of the game as the team’s offensive initiator and thrived in that role. Mobley supplied eight assists while being the best defensive player on the floor in a matchup against Jaren Jackson Jr. It was a superb performance that ended with 25 points, 13 rebounds, and three blocks.

Mitchell led both teams in scoring with 33 points on 11-23 shooting with six assists. Jerome finished with 26 points on 9-16 shooting with four helpers.

Memphis was led by Jackson who provided 22 points, three rebounds, and two steals in the loss. Bane had just seven points on 2-13 shooting.

Cleveland’s seventh win in a row improves their record to an absurd 47-10. The Cavaliers are now six games ahead of the Boston Celtics for first place in the conference.

The Cavs will be back in action on Tuesday when they head south to take on the Orlando Magic.