The Cavaliers Summer League team is returning to Cleveland with a championship trophy, T-shirts and rings after a dominant performance Monday night in Las Vegas.
Isaiah Mobley , Sam Merrill and Emoni Bates led the Cavaliers to a 99-78 win over the Houston Rockets at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV.
The Cavs finished 6-0 in Summer League play and gave the Rockets their first loss after five wins.
Mobley and Merrill played sparingly for the Cavs last season. Bates was the team's second-round draft pick this year.
Mobley earned Summer League Championship Game MVP honors with 28 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals in 27 minutes against the Rockets.
"He obviously put on a show," Merrill said of Mobley. "It is not surprising at all, but it is certainly fun to see."
Mobley made 12 of 20 shots from the field with most of his scoring coming near or at the rim.
"I would like to give a shout out to all the coaches that didn't travel with us as well as the ones that were here because they ingrained all the details that we needed to be able to be successful," Mobley said.
Mobley made the game-winning shot in Sunday night's 102-99 semifinal win in overtime over the Brooklyn Nets , but was not named to either All-Summer League Team before Monday's final.
Merrill was selected to the All-Summer League first team and Bates was tabbed for the All-Summer League second team.
"I try to not worry about stuff I can't control," Mobley said about not being selected for the Summer League Team. "Do I agree with it? No, but it is what it is. I'll take the championship over that all day, even if I didn't get MVP. I'm proud of my guys that did [get all-league accolades]. Sam and Emoni played outstanding through this whole week. Without them, we wouldn't have been here.
"... For us to end like this, for me and as a team, it is wonderful. You could not ask for more."
Merrill made 6 of 12 shots from beyond the 3-point arc and finished with 27 points, four rebounds and two assists in 30 minutes.
"[I am] just trying to stay confident," Merrill said. "I've put in a lot of work and all the shots that I've made are shots that I've worked on a lot, so for me it's about staying confident, having some swagger out there and trying to do what I do."
Bates contributed an efficient 19 points, five rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal in 31 minutes.
"This feels really good," Bates said of winning the title. "... [I am] just learning. I'm going to go back and watch film and keep growing. I'm not going to harp on the wins. I am really trying to get better on things I need to improve on, for sure."
Nate Hinton paced the Rockets with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Cam Whitmore scored 14 points.
Cavs Summer League coach Mike Gerrity trotted out a starting lineup of Mobley, Merrill, Bates, Craig Porter Jr. and Luke Travers on Sunday and Monday. Former Revere standout Pete Nance was the top reserve.
"This was an incredible experience," Gerrity said. "We have an amazing group of guys here and an incredible support staff."
Porter, an undrafted rookie, finished with eight points, nine rebounds, eight assists, one steal and one block Monday.
Travers, a second-round draft pick last year, totaled six points, four rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal.
Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Isaiah Mobley, Sam Merrill lead Cavaliers to NBA Summer League title
