Cleveland Cavaliers’ Jarrett Allen (31) shoots over San Antonio Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama (1) throughout the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Phil Long)
CLEVELAND — Jarrett Allen had 29 points and 16 rebounds, Caris LeVert scored 23 points off the bench and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the San Antonio Spurs 117-115 on Sunday.
Top overall draft pick Victor Wembanyama had 24 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots in 25 minutes for San Antonio. The 7-foot-3 Frenchman leads the NBA in blocks and ranks first amongst rookies in scoring, rebounding and steals.
“(Allen) was an awesome threat and is a player that I respect,” said Wembanyama, who stays on a minutes restriction imposed by the team. “He’s the kind of player I like and he’s already had an extended profession. He’s efficient and does the hard jobs.”
OH MY. JARRETT ALLEN. 😳 #LetEmKnow
VOTE JA: https://t.co/RVkCQp2JNa pic.twitter.com/oymwPdmhX1
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) January 7, 2024
Allen is averaging 21.0 points and 15.7 rebounds during the last seven games for Cleveland, which has won three in a row. The Cavaliers left for France later within the day in preparation for his or her Thursday game in Paris against Brooklyn.
“I don’t know any big man, any center who’s playing higher than Jarrett Allen at once,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “In my view, he’s an All-Star. He’s got to be. It’s deserving.”
Wembanyama and Allen exchanged highlight-reel blocks of one another in a wild fourth quarter that saw Cleveland construct a 111-95 lead, only to have San Antonio answer with a 20-6 run — scoring the ultimate 11 points — to tug inside two in the ultimate minute.
The Spurs had a pair of opportunities to go ahead, but Jeremy Sochan threw the ball out of bounds with 10 seconds left and his 31-footer was off course on the buzzer. San Antonio has the second-worst record within the NBA at 5-30 and is 0-11 against the East.
Big shot LeVert. 🎯 #LetEmKnow@CarisLeVert | 23 PTS, 4 3PM, 2 Buzzer Beaters pic.twitter.com/AJaR7rxEv4
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) January 7, 2024
“You recognize how we do it down here, we prefer to keep the fans engaged,” Allen quipped. “I’m excited for Wemby because he’s talented, takes people off the dribble, is a superb shot blocker, posts up. He has all of it. And also you don’t realize how big his wingspan is until you go against him.”
Sam Merrill scored 18 points and Donovan Mitchell had 17 points and nine assists for the Cavaliers. Cleveland is 8-3 since learning it would be without point guard Darius Garland (broken jaw) and power forward Evan Mobley (left knee surgery) until February.
“Within the fourth quarter, we took our foot off the gas a bit of bit,” LeVert said. “We’ve got to scrub that up, but overall it was a very good win for us.”
Devin Vassell had 22 points and Tre Jones and Keldon Johnson each added 18 for the Spurs. Longtime Cavaliers forward Cedi Osman had nine points and 6 rebounds in his return to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
“We outscored them 11-0 within the last three minutes, so the defense was pretty good,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said.
Vassell scored 12 points in the primary quarter because the Spurs went up 14, but Merrill caught fire with five 3-pointers to send Cleveland into halftime with a 62-56 lead.
UP NEXT
San Antonio: At Detroit on Wednesday night.
Cleveland: Plays Brooklyn in Paris on Thursday.
