Tyrese Proctor led a revamped starting lineup with a career-high 24 points and his first career triple-double as the Cleveland Cavaliers ended a difficult travel day with a 127-117 home victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night.
Fellow starters Mario Hezonja (22 points), Maleek Thomas (20), Thomas Bryant (19) and Jaylon Tyson (18) also came up big for the Cavaliers, who began the day in Miami, boarded a three-hour flight to Cleveland in the late morning and then rested four regular starters on the second night of a back-to-back.
Kyrie Irving scored a game-high 34 points for Dallas, which lost its second straight game to open a three-game road trip.
Unable to fly out of Miami late Friday because of delays that resulted in a nationwide Federal Aviation Administration ground stop, the Cavaliers rescheduled their flight for Saturday morning. They arrived home around noon local time, about 7 1/2 hours before tipoff against the Mavericks.
Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson chose to sit Jarrett Allen, Peyton Watson, James Harden and Donovan Mitchell, leaving Tyson as the only returning starter from Friday’s 133-121 loss in Miami.
With Hezonja and Bryant making their first starts of the season, Proctor and Tyson their second, and Thomas his third, the Cavaliers got off to a quick start with a 10-4 opening run before taking command with a 38-point second quarter.
Tyson scored 12 points, Bryant added eight and Proctor had seven in the period, as Cleveland built a 71-53 halftime lead.
Dallas never got closer than nine points in the second half.
Proctor had set a career high with 22 points in Miami. Against the Mavericks, he matched his career best with 11 rebounds and set a career high with 10 assists.
Reserve Norchad Omier was the sixth Cavalier to score in double figures with 13 points, while Bryant matched Proctor for game-high honors with 11 rebounds.
Irving did most of his scoring from beyond the 3-point arc, making 7 of 16 attempts.
Like Cleveland, Dallas got double-digit scoring from all five starters. Cooper Flagg backed Irving with 18 points, Caleb Martin added 15, and Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington had 10 apiece.
Flagg tied Martin for the team lead with eight rebounds, while Irving and Naji Marshall shared the team lead with five assists. Marshall added 12 points.
–Field Level Media
