October 29, 2026 at 3:23 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Cavaliers hold off short-handed Wizards, 121-111

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Cleveland, at full strength, beat a Washington team missing three rotation players and still waiting on AJ Dybantsa's debut to become the story.

The Wizards arrived in Cleveland on Wednesday with the question that has hung over their season: when does AJ Dybantsa play? The No. 1 pick had missed the first four games, and he went into the night listed as questionable, with reports that he was preparing to make his debut. Even with that possibility, Washington was not the same team as Cleveland, and the Cavaliers won 121-111 at Rocket Arena.

The rest of the Wizards' rotation was thin. Jamir Watkins and Tristan Vukcevic were out, and Justin Champagnie sat with a right foot injury. That left Washington short on depth and rebounding on the road, where a team can't easily make up for it. The Wizards kept pace for stretches, but they never got the lead they needed to make Cleveland uncomfortable.

The loss left Washington 2-3, after it came in at 2-2 and hoping to bounce back from the defeat to Charlotte and climb above .500. It also extended a drought against Cleveland that dates to 2021. The Cavaliers, who had no one on the injury report, were the healthier and deeper team, and they played like it.

For Cleveland, it was another win in a start that has been tighter than this one. The Cavaliers blew a lead in their opener, then beat Minnesota 127-125 in overtime, and they now sit at 3-1. The oddsmakers had them as 10.5-point favorites with the total at 239.5. The ten-point margin was just short of the spread, and the teams' 232 combined points were under the total. The Cavaliers took the win anyway.

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