The Cleveland Cavaliers won their first game of the season, knocking down the Brooklyn Nets 131-124. It wasn’t pretty at the end, but a win is a win.
Cleveland started this game as you’d expect: up by double
digits. The night followed this trend through three quarters, with the Cavs firmly in the driver’s seat until the fourth quarter. Brooklyn then went on a frenzied run to cut the lead behind a barrage of shots from Cam Thomas, Michael Porter Jr. and Ziaire Williams. That trio combined for 89 points on 34-59 (57%) shooting.
There are a few things you can point to for what went wrong in the second half. Turnovers stand out first. The Cavs turned it over 9 times in the second half and that contributed to a huge surge of momentum for Brooklyn. But perhaps the most glaring issue was the lack of defensive integrity. The Cavs simply couldn’t get a stop.
Some of this is the result of great shot-making. The Nets’ highest scorers were hotter than usual in this one. Still, the Cavs once again found themselves chasing the ball and falling behind in rotations. This led to too many quality looks for a Nets team that was already feeling itself.
Nonetheless, the Cavs held on behind 35 points from Donovan Mitchell, 22 points from Sam Merrill, and a stellar bounce-back game from Jarrett Allen, who finished with 22 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. The Cavs challenged Allen to be better than he was in the season opener, and he responded. His activity was the reason they held on in the fourth quarter, with Allen ending the game as a team-high +24.
