NEW YORK — If Tuesday night were a preview of the first-round playoffs, the Cavs would have plenty of reasons to count their chances.
In the first of two meetings between Eastern Conference playoff hopes over the next few days, Cleveland edged Brooklyn 115-109 on Tuesday night. It’s the Cavs’ fourth win in their last five games as they move closer to a playoff spot for the first time since 2018 — the last season with LeBron James before he left for Los Angeles.
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While the last few weeks will decide the post-season seeding, several members of the organization have privately hoped for a series with the Nets.
Tuesday showed why. It also showed why the Fading Nets are unlikely to be the Fifth Seed of the East.
With an inconsistent defense and a surgical, pass-happy attack that shares the wealth, Brooklyn had Cleveland upset early on. They led for more than eight minutes in the first quarter and were ahead seven for one – the Nets’ widest lead in the game.
But it didn’t last.
“In the first quarter I thought the ball was sticking, it wasn’t moving. Defensively, I didn’t think we would compete at the level we needed to compete. It only took us a minute to get into the game,” said Cavs coach JB Bickerstaff. “Once we started moving the ball, the game became easy for us offensively and everyone played along. I thought we were playing Cavaliers basketball. I think that’s how we have to play.”
The Cavs opened the second quarter with a 14-4 run marked by Donovan Mitchell and took only their second lead of the game at the 10-13 mark of the quarter. The two teams traded baskets for about a short stretch before the Cavs gained control of Evan Mobley’s dunk – for good. They led for the last 33 minutes and used a dominant second quarter – beating the Nets 38-25 – to turn the game around before repelling a lively Nets push in the fourth quarter, which took the 15.3 point lead shortened to five points.
“We have to play a full game,” Bickerstaff said after the win. “We allowed the leadership to dictate our feelings. We allowed a big game to dictate our emotions instead of doing the job and finishing the game the way we need it to be.”
That fourth quarter helped make the bottom line look better for Brooklyn. Most of the game was a Cleveland destruction.
Mitchell, who was battling a minor stomach issue that sent him back to the locker room in the first quarter, scored 31 points at the top level and 5-of-9 from 3-point range on 10-of-22 shooting. The star guard punctuated his night with a thunderous poster dunk over Brooklyn swinger Yuta Watanabe that left Barclays Center gasping.
Mitchell bent and yelled. Darius Garland hopped along the sidelines. Cedi Osman grabbed his head. Caris LeVert watched appreciatively before playfully punching Mitchell in the chest.
It was the highlight of the game. A portrait of Cleveland’s destruction.
“That was one of his better ones,” Jarrett Allen said of Mitchell’s throwdown. “Funny we talked about dunking before the game, Donovan dunk and he had an excellent one. I give it 9.7 out of 10 points. I’m not the type to say it’s perfect.”
Garland contributed 17 points remaining with six assists. Mobley added 17 points, four rebounds and three dimes.
Allen – who was playing for the first time since March 10 when he sustained a bruise to his right eye that sidelined him in the previous four games – recorded his 30th double-double of the season with 12 points and 14 boards in 35 impressive minutes.
“It’s better. Not 100 percent,” Allen said of his still-recovering eye. “The doctors said it was good to go and play well and it’s not going to get any worse, so I have faith in the team and I was ready to go again.”
Brooklyn, now just 7-13 since trading superstars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, was led by Spencer Dinwiddie, who had 19 points and 10 assists. Mikal Bridges chipped in at 18. Overall, Brooklyn had six players who were in double figures.
But the networks no longer have the star power to keep up with the East’s true competitors.
At the time of the Brooklyn upheaval, the Nets had the fourth-best record in the East. That now belongs to the Cavs, while the Nets have slipped to sixth place, two and a half games behind the New York Knicks.
Before the game, Brooklyn center Nic Claxton responded to a cleveland.com report about the Cavs preferring to face the nets, saying Brooklyn “will match and take care of everyone” if that comes to fruition comes. Unless the Nets make an unexpected late-season push, the pregame chatter will be irrelevant, and Tuesday’s contest will end up being just another late-March matchup rather than a playoff preview.
Too bad for the Cavs, who haven’t won a playoff series without LeBron since 1993. Playing against the starless Nets in round one would be the easiest way to change that.
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The Cavs will stay in town for a second matchup with the Nets on Thursday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m
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