CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Who says the Cleveland Cavaliers are tanking?
One night after beating the Philadelphia 76ers, a likely playoff team, the Cavs followed that up with a 117-108 win against the surging Houston Rockets, who were playing without All-Star point guard Chris Paul.
Saturday night's win gave Cleveland its first official winning streak this season. It also represents the most important moment yet.
Prior to Saturday night, each of the Cavs' previous wins was followed by a blowout loss, unable to piece a pair of quality performances together. Leader Tristan Thompson lamented that in the embarrassing performance against Washington 10 days ago -- a game that came on the heels of the most complete showing all year.
The Cavs spoke that night about the importance of learning from that loss. It's always a challenge for a young team to clear that hurdle.
The Cavs finally got over it against Houston, showing the confidence head coach Larry Drew spoke about before tipoff and proving once again that they can compete with some of the league's elite if they play together, the right way and give effort for 48 minutes.
Consider Saturday night validation.
"This is two big wins," Thompson said following the win. "I think like I've been saying for the last couple of weeks and LD said, if we stay the course then we're going to get our fair share of wins. About four games where it could have been a W or L and obviously didn't go our way. These are the games that we are getting. I think we are figuring out if we play 48 minutes, play hard, play fast and always in attack mode then it gives ourselves a chance to be in these ballgames."
Collin Sexton led the way on offense. The rookie scored a career-high 29 points, as he continues to shine as a starter. His jumper with around four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter helped hold off what looked to be a late-game surge from Houston.
"I'm just going out there and playing my game, getting to my shots that I know I'm capable of making nine out of 10 times," Sexton said.
Still, on a night when the Cavaliers needed to do an abundance of little things to overcome the wide talent gap with a team that's won five of its last seven, Thompson and David Nwaba set the tone.
Thompson scored 16 points and grabbed 22 rebounds.
Nwaba stuffed the stat sheet, tallying 12 points to go with four rebounds, two steals and one block. He went just 5-of-16 from the field. But offense isn't why the Cavs have inserted him into the starting lineup. Defense has allowed him to carve out a bigger role recently.
Drew continues to make the proper lineup calls. The Cavs' energy has picked up since mopey JR Smith left the team -- not at all a coincidence. They believe they've found a blueprint for success.
"Guys still have to stay locked in on what got us these two wins and the style of basketball we are playing," Thompson said. :We can't go away from that. If we do and try to go into the ISO or think it's one against five then it's not going to work out for us."
Tanking teams don't play with the fight the Cavs have this season. Sometimes it will be good enough to win. Sometimes it won't. That's what happens during a rebuild. That's how it goes with talent deficiencies.
On Saturday night it was enough. It was the next step and there are plenty more of those ahead. If the Cavs keep playing the way they have this week, more wins will be coming as well.
Nwaba makes difference
Drew said prior to the game he didn't know how long he was going to stay with Nwaba in the starting lineup.
But why mess with something that's working so well?
Nwaba got the nod for the third straight game. The Cavs originally put the stingy defender into the starting group Wednesday night so they could test him against LeBron James. That seems to be Nwaba's new role, taking over the assignment from Cedi Osman.
Nwaba was locked into a battle with James Harden all night, more than holding his own.
Harden finished with 40 points. But only a handful of his made baskets came while being guarded by Nwaba, who made Harden work hard all night and spearheaded an energetic effort on that end of the floor. Harden also committed nine turnovers.
Mr. Fourth Quarter
Jordan Clarkson has become one of the guys Drew leans on late in the game when generating offense seems to be quite a challenge for Cleveland.
As capable of anyone on the roster of igniting quickly, Clarkson scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter against the Rockets. The late-game eruption came on the heels of Clarkson putting away the 76ers one night earlier by scoring 14 points in the final quarter.
Cleaning the glass
The Cavaliers entered the night in the top half of the league in rebounding differential.
They have now out-rebounded 13 of their 18 opponents after pounding Houston on the boards Saturday night. With Thompson as the team's anchor, the Cavs finished with a 19-board advantage, including 20-7 on the offensive end.
Larry Nance Jr. leaves early
The Cavs have been battling injuries all season. And they might have added another to that list early in the fourth quarter, as Nance hobbled back to the locker room.
Nance missed the first few games of the regular season with a sprained ankle. He told cleveland.com after the game that it was a slight re-aggravation, but didn't see any swelling so he's not overly concerned. His plan is to receive treatment on Sunday and then be ready to go.
Up next
The Cavs will host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night at 7 p.m. It's the second -- and final -- meeting between the two teams this season. Cleveland lost to Minnesota 131-123 in Game No. 2.