Shorthanded Cavaliers push Pelicans before fading late

CLEVELAND — No Collin Sexton and no Darius Garland didn't mean no chance. One night after getting shellacked by a badly slumping Toronto team that was minus its three best players, the extremely shorthanded Cavaliers played hard, together and intelligently before falling 116-109 to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Not only did Sexton (groin) and Garland come up lame in a 135-115 loss to the Raptors — the Cavs trailed by 38 in the second period and by 33 at halftime — Cleveland (19-34) also was still minus center Jarrett Allen (concussion), power forward Larry Nance Jr. (illness) and small forward Dylan Windler (knee). Guard Damyean Dotson (undisclosed) was a late scratch as well. Playing against a Pelicans team that was without point guard Lonzo Ball (hip) and shooting guard Josh Hart (thumb), Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff went with a starting lineup of Matthew Dellavedova and Isaac Okoro in the backcourt and Dean Wade, Kevin Love and Isaiah Hartenstein up front. It was Cleveland's 24th different starting lineup in 53 games this season. "They gave us everything they had," Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of his players. "You can live with that." The Cavs led 107-106 after a Cedi Osman bucket with 2:51 left, but missed six 3-pointers while scoring just three points down the stretch. With Love and Dellavedova on minutes restrictions, Cleveland scored just 41 points in the second half — only 15 while being outscored by 11 in the fourth quarter — after putting up a season-high 68 in the first. "You've got to make shots to keep up with them," Bickerstaff said. "I thought tonight we just didn't make enough shots." Wade hit 5 of 8 3-pointers to lead the Cavs with a career-high 21 points, while Okoro also had a career high with 19 points, but none in the final 16:30 of the game. Love had a season-high 19 points but made just 6 of 17 shots, including 5-of-14 from 3-point territory, while forgotten man Osman had 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting and seven assists. The gritty Dellavedova had a season-high 10 assists, but scored just seven points while going 3-for-11 from the field, including 1-for-6 from deep. "We were just down too many guys, but we still gave ourselves a chance," Love said. "We're not a lay-down type of team." The Pelicans (24-29) got 38 points — one off his career high — from Zion Williamson, who went 16-for-22 from the floor while adding nine rebounds and four assists. Brandon Ingram added 27 points and eight assists. "We were going to compete for 48 minutes," Bickerstaff said. "We were going to lay it all on the line, which we did." The Cavs saw a six-point halftime lead trimmed to four, 94-90, at the end of three quarters, but it would have been a lot worse were it not for Okoro, who had 12 points in the first 7½ minutes of the period. From that point, scoring got much more difficult for the rookie and his teammates, but the Cavs bounced back strong after the debacle vs. Toronto on Saturday. "We stepped up," said Love, who passed Mark Price for second place on the franchise's career list for 3-pointers made, behind LeBron James. "We had a lot of guys out of our lineup, a lot of starters, a lot of primary scorers, but a lot of guys stepped up." With little dribbling, a lot of player and ball movement and Dellavedova passing for five assists in just seven minutes, the Cavs made 7 of 12 3-pointers and shot .636 from the field overall (14-for-22) to take a 39-29 lead after the opening period. Cleveland upped its lead to 52-39 with 8:41 to play in the second quarter, but Williamson, who had 25 first-half points on 10-for-14 shooting, began dominating as the Pelicans pulled within one at 59-58. "He is such a force," Bickerstaff said. "He is such a unique player that he is hard to guard. "If you allow him to get a full head of steam, there's no way to stop him." To its credit, Cleveland responded with a 9-1 run before New Orleans' Jaxson Hayes banked in a shot from beyond half court to make it a 68-62 game at halftime. Still, the shorthanded Cavs set season highs for most points in a first quarter and first half before running out of gas. "We needed to get off to a really good start," Bickerstaff said. "They brought it from the beginning and brought it the entire game, so I was proud of their effort." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com and follow him @RickNoland on Twitter. Pelicans 116, Cavaliers 109 NEW ORLEANS (116): Ingram 8-18 8-8 27, Williamson 16-22 6-8 38, Adams 0-1 0-0 0, Bledsoe 2-9 2-2 7, Marshall 6-9 1-3 15, Hayes 3-6 1-2 8, Hernangomez 3-6 0-0 6, Johnson 4-8 1-1 9, Lewis Jr. 2-7 2-2 6. Totals 44-86 21-26 116. CLEVELAND (109): Love 6-17 2-3 19, Wade 8-12 0-0 21, Hartenstein 4-7 2-2 10, Dellavedova 3-11 0-0 7, Okoro 6-10 5-5 19, Osman 7-11 1-1 15, Prince 4-11 3-3 11, Stevens 2-3 0-1 4, Kabengele 1-3 0-0 2, B.Thomas 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 41-85 14-17 109. New Orleans&emsp;&emsp;29&emsp;&emsp;33&emsp;&emsp;28&emsp;&emsp;26&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;116Cleveland&emsp;&emsp; 39&emsp;&emsp;29&emsp;&emsp;26&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp;—&emsp;&emsp;1093-Point Goals—New Orleans 7-24 (Ingram 3-6, Marshall 2-4, Bledsoe 1-8, Johnson 0-2, Lewis Jr. 0-3), Cleveland 13-40 (Wade 5-8, Love 5-14, Okoro 2-4, Dellavedova 1-6, Kabengele 0-2, Osman 0-2, Prince 0-4). Fouled Out—New Orleans None, Cleveland 1 (Hartenstein). Rebounds—New Orleans 50 (Williamson 9), Cleveland 36 (Hartenstein, Wade 6). Assists—New Orleans 30 (Ingram 8), Cleveland 29 (Dellavedova 10). Total Fouls—New Orleans 16, Cleveland 23. A—4,148 (19,432)