Cleveland finds the right mix of experience, youth with a combination of five

Winning their first home game since Nov. 23, The Cleveland Cavaliers may have found their most balanced combination of five in a 130-117 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday. Playing together from 9:36 to 6:04 of the third quarter, Craig Porter Jr.’s group, Donovan MitchellJaylon Tyson, Dean Wade and Evan Mobley he got flat results.

“That’s a lot of energy out there,” Tyson told ClutchPoints in his locker room after the game.

Porter went in after De’Andre Hunter committed his fourth foul and the Cavs trailed 77-75 after De’Aaron Fox’s midcourt layup and free throw. From that point, in the quintet’s three-and-a-half-minute span, Cleveland went on a 15-4 run to take control of the game.

“They were just stations,” Mobley said. “Everybody just guarded their yard. CP does a great job of guarding their yard and setting up blocks. Dean, me, then Don. Jaylon. Just a great defensive lineup, and then we just came out in transition, ran and went downhill.”

Mitchell explained it focus at halftime locking down San Antonio and creating fast break opportunities.

“If I start with a pick-and-roll, roll hard, you’ll notice the sprints are a lot quicker through the screen,” Mitchell said. “If they’re going to switch, that’s how we got a lot of our rolls. Guys were getting under the roll and getting layups and things like that because we were rolling with tempo.

“So that was the one thing you started to see. I talked to Dean about it, I talked to Craig about it, and Ev about it, and Dre, and they immediately got to the small rolls and got to the pocket. That’s where we were able to get what we wanted offensively and, defensively, we got stops.”

Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson he believed the decision to put Wade on the floor after halftime had a lot to do with it.

“I experiment a lot with lineups. I probably should have started Dean, quite honestly,” Atkinson said. “Maybe that’s why we didn’t start well. That was on me. Dean, those guys have played a lot together; they have synergy and chemistry. Sometimes you throw a new player or a young player into it, even one guy can pull it out a little bit. So that group had good synergy tonight.

“Even CP, they know what they’re doing. They’re really comfortable, they know where they’re going to be on the court, so that helps.”

The trio of Porter, Tyson and Wade combined for a plus-52 individually. By the time Mitchell and Mobley came out, it was a 90-81 lead for the wine and gold. Lonzo Ball, Nae’Quan Tomlin and Thomas Bryant continued the momentum in the second half of the period, and Cleveland ended up outscoring the Spurs 44-19 overall.

Entering Friday, the Porter-Mitchell-Tyson-Wade-Mobley lineup had only played for five total possessions this season. The rest is a mix of pop, spin, scoring, defense and rebounding Cleveland essentially has no weaknesses on the floor.

Given the success he had against a formidable foe in San Antonio, Atkinson should bring him back.

“We’re 1-15 deep,” Tyson said. “Every day when you put any five on something, something is going to shake, and today it was just that five.”