Cleveland Cavaliers – Houston Rockets · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 22 January 2025

CLE108–109HOU

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 96% of NBA games since 2017

· It was still open in the final minutes
· The win probability swung between the two teams 24 times

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ HOU winsCLE wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when HOU leads and falls when CLE does.

This is how the game was decided.

Fred VanVleet decided it, the Houston Rockets player with the most points (26, with 3 rebounds and 5 assists; +8 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Tari Eason's (+19). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Houston Rockets 109-108 Cleveland Cavaliers (January 22, 2025) was hit by Alperen Şengün: a free throw with 4.1 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Houston Rockets up 108-107. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Houston Rockets 109-108 Cleveland Cavaliers (January 22, 2025) was a 19-0 run by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the fourth quarter (from 10:36 to 3:51), from 85-98 to 104-98. The Houston Rockets' best was a 12-0 run in the second quarter (from 7:14 to 4:03), from 41-42 to 53-42.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Alperen Sengun makes free throw 1 of 2.

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Alperen Şengün decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 4.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is the only game he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Şengün decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

22 January 2025 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401705181:685; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · CLE

Mitchell · Garland · Jerome · Niang · Merrill

Closing lineup · HOU

VanVleet · Thompson · Brooks · Eason · Tate

Q1Q2Q3Q4

CLE

Donovan Mitchell

35′ · +19

Darius Garland

33′ · -7

Jarrett Allen

32′ · +2

Dean Wade

31′ · +10

Max Strus

23′ · 0

Ty Jerome

25′ · 0

Georges Niang

20′ · -12

Sam Merrill

23′ · 0

Tristan Thompson

13′ · -6

Jaylon Tyson

5′ · -13

HOU

Fred VanVleet

40′ · +8

Amen Thompson

36′ · -10

Jalen Green

33′ · -17

Dillon Brooks

32′ · 0

Alperen Sengun

29′ · +4

Cam Whitmore

21′ · +13

Tari Eason

20′ · +19

Steven Adams

19′ · -2

Jae'Sean Tate

10′ · -9

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. CLE and HOU.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Mitchell, Allen, Strus, Garland, and Wade played 15.2 minutes together.
Niang, Mitchell, Jerome, Merrill, and Thompson played 7.4 minutes together.
Mitchell, Allen, Jerome, Wade, and Merrill played 3.9 minutes together.

The plus-minus of each Cleveland Cavaliers lineup is not shown: its rotation stints do not add up with each other.

Houston Rockets

VanVleet, Brooks, Green, Sengun, and Thompson played 21.6 minutes together.
Tate, Eason, Thompson, Whitmore, and Adams played 3.6 minutes together.
Green, Tate, Thompson, Whitmore, and Adams played 3.2 minutes together.

The plus-minus of each Houston Rockets lineup is not shown: its rotation stints do not add up with each other.

▸See every lineup of the game

Cleveland Cavaliers

Niang, Garland, Jerome, Merrill, and Thompson played 3.7 minutes together.
Allen, Strus, Garland, Wade, and Tyson played 3.2 minutes together.
Mitchell, Allen, Garland, Wade, and Merrill played 2.9 minutes together.
Niang, Garland, Jerome, Wade, and Merrill played 2.8 minutes together.
Mitchell, Allen, Garland, Jerome, and Wade played 2.4 minutes together.
Niang, Allen, Strus, Garland, and Jerome played 1.9 minutes together.
Niang, Mitchell, Allen, Strus, and Jerome played 1.6 minutes together.
Niang, Allen, Garland, Merrill, and Tyson played 1.1 minutes together.

Houston Rockets

VanVleet, Brooks, Sengun, Eason, and Whitmore played 2.9 minutes together.
VanVleet, Brooks, Eason, Whitmore, and Adams played 2.4 minutes together.
VanVleet, Brooks, Green, Thompson, and Adams played 2.4 minutes together.
VanVleet, Eason, Thompson, Whitmore, and Adams played 2.3 minutes together.
VanVleet, Green, Eason, Whitmore, and Adams played 2.3 minutes together.
VanVleet, Tate, Sengun, Eason, and Whitmore played 1.8 minutes together.
VanVleet, Brooks, Green, Sengun, and Eason played 1.6 minutes together.
Green, Eason, Thompson, Whitmore, and Adams played 1.4 minutes together.
VanVleet, Brooks, Sengun, Eason, and Thompson played 1.1 minutes together.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Fred VanVleet covered 4.78 km, more than anyone in the game.

Fred VanVleet touched the ball 84 times, a game high.
Fred VanVleet made 61 passes, a game high.
Jarrett Allen defended 11 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 5.
Alperen Sengun had 23 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Cleveland Cavaliers

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Darius Garland	4.04	6.8	67	36
Donovan Mitchell	3.88	6.2	63	37
Jarrett Allen	3.72	6.5	52	36
Dean Wade	3.68	6.7	40	32
Max Strus	3.04	7.5	33	25
Ty Jerome	2.94	6.6	52	35
Sam Merrill	2.90	7.0	30	20
Georges Niang	2.54	6.9	31	23
Tristan Thompson	1.43	6.0	15	14
Jaylon Tyson	0.72	7.8	6	5

Houston Rockets

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Fred VanVleet	4.78	6.7	84	61
Amen Thompson	4.46	6.8	60	40
Jalen Green	4.10	6.9	62	41
Dillon Brooks	3.75	6.6	25	21
Alperen Sengun	3.27	6.3	60

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2024-25 regular season, not this game.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Jarrett Allen contested 9.5 shots per game over his 81 games.
He ranks 12 of 388 in the league.
Donovan Mitchell recovered 0.8 loose balls per game over his 70 games.
He ranks 22 of 388 in the league.
Sam Merrill drew 0.13 charges per game over his 71 games.
He ranks 26 of 388 in the league.

Houston Rockets

Tari Eason recovered 1.0 loose balls per game over his 57 games.
He ranks 5 of 388 in the league.
Jae'Sean Tate drew 0.17 charges per game over his 47 games.
He ranks 12 of 388 in the league.
Alperen Sengun contested 9.1 shots per game over his 75 games.
He ranks 16 of 388 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Houston Rockets have won 86 of their 140 games against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

86-54record of the Houston Rockets · NBA 1971-72 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

2-0in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1971-72 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

16.719

92.6% of capacity

Toyota Center · Houston

Scoring

217

combined points

10.7 below the season average (227.7)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

13 calls reviewed1 errors admitted by the NBA

Foul: Loose Ball · 01:07.6

Alperen Sengun → Jarrett Allen

Sengun (HOU) dislodges Allen (CLE) during the shot attempt, and a loose ball foul should have been whistled. Instant replay was then utilized after the made basket to determine if an altercation/hostile act had occurred, and referees determined that Sengun did not commit a hostile act.