CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers used a late rally to prevail 105-100 over the Brooklyn Nets, and Cleveland maintained its perfect record this season on the second night of a Kenny Atkinson blast from the past back-to-back.
The Cavs improved to 11-0 by defeating the Nets (4-6) on Saturday at home. The Cavs became the 12th team in NBA history to start a season 11-0. New Cavs coach Atkinson spent three-plus regular seasons at the helm of the Nets before spending the past three seasons as a Golden State Warriors assistant coach. On Friday night, the Cavs scored 83 points in the first half and routed the Warriors 136-117.
Tipoff occurred at 7:40 p.m. Saturday in downtown Cleveland. Here are how our updates throughout the game.
After the Cavs fell behind by seven points and called a timeout with 4:23 left to play, they went on a 10-0 run fueled by point guard Darius Garland. His two successful foul shots gave the Cavs a 97-96 lead with 2:31 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Cavs never trailed again. A Garland assist to forward Evan Mobley resulted in a dunk and a 99-96 lead with 1:52 left.
Successful floaters by Garland and backup point guard Ty Jerome allowed the Cavs to answer the Nets with 1:24 and . 46.2 seconds left, respectively. Guard Donovan Mitchell made two foul shots with 15.6 seconds, giving the Cavs a 105-100 lead, and they held on to remain the league’s only unbeaten team this season.
The Cavs ended the game on a 26-11 run.
Garland and guard Caris LeVert had eight points apiece for the Cavs in the fourth quarter. Garland finished with 20 points and six assists. LeVert added 12 points.
Mobley led the Cavs with 23 points and 16 rebounds. Mitchell scored 22 points.
The Cavaliers trailed by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, making this their second largest come from behind victory this season.
With forward Cam Johnson’s 3-pointer, the Nets went ahead 96-89 with 4:24 left in the fourth quarter. The Cavs trailed by the same deficit when they called a timeout a second later.
The Cavs trailed by just four points after forward Georges Niang turned an assist from guard Sam Merrill into a layup with 6:36 left in the fourth quarter. The Nets answered with a bucket, but followed it with a 24-second shot clock violation. The Cavs were behind by just two points when LeVert made a dunk off a steal by Jerome and an assist by guard Darius Garland with 5:31 left to play.
But the Nets kept firing and scored the next five points.
The Cavs began the fourth quarter on a 9-3 run, but the Nets fired back to boost their cushion to 89-79.
Then Mobley made a hook shot on an assist from guard Caris LeVert, and LeVert made a fast-break layup off a steal and assist by point guard Ty Jerome. With the sequence, the Cavs cut the Nets’ lead to 89-83 with 7:46 left in the fourth quarter.
The Cavs will need to rally to remain undefeated this season. They trail the Nets 82-70 at the end of the third quarter after being outscored 27-13 in the quarter.
Two Nets players, forward Cam Johnson (10 points) and guard Cam Thomas (nine points), combined for 19 points in the third quarter. Again, the Cavs scored just 13 points as a team in the third quarter.
The Nets led 77-68 during a replay review with 3:07 left in the third quarter.
After being scoreless in the first half, center Jarrett Allen made two foul shots and a layup to give the Cavs a spark as they cut their deficit to seven points with 4 minutes remaining in the third quarter.
The Nets had built their lead to 13 points with 5:29 left in the third quarter.
The Cavs fell behind 59-57 when Thomas made two foul shots with 11:06 left in the third quarter after drawing a foul from point guard Darius Garland. It was Cleveland’s first deficit since early in the opening quarter.
The Nets kept going, too. The Cavs called a timeout with 9:13 left in the third quarter after the Nets began the second half on a 12-0 run. Guard Dennis Schroder made a 3-pointer to put the Nets ahead 67-57 and prompt Atkinson to use the timeout. Thomas extended Brooklyn’s run to 15-0 when he made a 3-pointer with 7:43 left in the third quarter.
The Cavs hadn’t trailed since 10:09 left in the first quarter.
The Cavs led the Nets 57-55 at halftime after Brooklyn rallied to finish the second quarter on an 18-5 run.
The Nets trailed by 15 points before going on a 12-0 run to cut their deficit to 52-49 with 2:26 left in the first half.
Mitchell led the Cavs with 17 points in the first half on 5-of-9 shooting from the field (4 of 5 on 3-pointers). Mobley had a double-double through two quarters with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Point guard Darius Garland added 10 points.
Guard Dennis Schroder led the Nets with 14 points in the first half. Johnson added 10 points for Brooklyn.
The Cavs went 21-of-38 shooting (55.3%) from the floor (9 of 20 on 3-pointers). The Nets went 17-of-38 shooting (44.7%) from the field (8 of 24 on 3-pointers).
Points off turnovers are boosting the Cavs and crushing the Nets.
The Cavs extended their lead to 52-37 with 6:28 left in the second quarter after LeVert turned a Nets turnover into a breakaway dunk and Garland made a transition 3-pointer off another Brooklyn turnover. LeVert and Jerome had steals on those plays.
At this juncture, the Cavs had scored 12 points off the Nets’ seven turnovers. Conversely, the Nets had five points off the Cavs’ seven turnovers.
The Cavs had a 47-37 advantage over the Nets with 7:11 left in the second quarter. The Nets called a timeout after Mobley scored in the paint on an assist from LeVert, a former Brooklyn player. Mobley already has 11 points and seven rebounds. The Cavs are outscoring the Nets 20-12 in the paint.
Mitchell led the Cavs at this stage of the game with 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field (4 of 4 on 3-pointers).
The Cavs led the Nets 34-28 at the end of the opening quarter, which, at times, had the sloppy look of two teams playing on the second night in a row.
Mitchell led the Cavs in the first quarter with 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor (4 of 4 on 3-pointers).
Forward Dorian Finney-Smith and Schroder paced the Nets through one quarter with eight points apiece.
The Cavs started the game by shooting 10-of-13 (76.9%) from the floor, including 5 of 7 on 3-pointers. It allowed them to lead 26-20 with 4:09 left in the first quarter.
At this point, the Nets are 6-of-11 shooting from the field (3 of 6 on 3-pointers).
The Cavaliers led the Nets 17-15 during a Cleveland timeout with 6:17 remaining in the opening quarter.
Mitchell made his first three 3-point attempts to help the Cavs gain the early advantage.
Here is some pregame information:
What was Kenny Atkinson’s record as Nets coach?
Atkinson went 118-190 coaching the Nets from 2016-20. He guided the 2018-19 Nets to the playoffs, and they were eliminated 4-1 in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers. He went on to spend one season with the Los Angeles Clippers on Ty Lue’s staff and three seasons on Steve Kerr’s staff in Golden State, helping the Warriors win the 2022 NBA title.
What does NBA history suggest the Cleveland Cavs’ hot start means for their 2024-25 season?
Before this year, Cleveland’s record for the best start to a season was 8-0 by the 1976-77 team.
By reaching 10-0 to start this season, the Cavs not only rewrote franchise history, but also entered a rare category in recent NBA annals. Only three other teams since the 2000-01 season have started 10-0 or better. They are the 2015-16 Warriors (NBA record 24-0), the 2002-03 Dallas Mavericks (14-0) and the 2000-01 76ers (10-0).
How did those teams finish those seasons? None of them won the NBA title, but they all made deep playoff runs. The Warriors and Sixers lost in the NBA Finals, and the Mavericks lost in the Western Conference Finals.
Of course, this season is extremely young, so jumping to conclusions would be foolish. On the other hand, if history is any indication, the Cavs at least appear to be capable of building on last season, when they were eliminated 4-1 in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics.
What is the injury report for Cleveland Cavs and Brooklyn Nets?
The Nets, who lost 108-104 to the Celtics in overtime Friday night, have ruled out the following players for their meeting with the Cavs: Bojan Bogdanovic (left foot injury recovery), Day’Ron Sharpe (left hamstring strain), Ben Simmons (lower back injury management) and Trendon Watford (left hamstring strain).
The Cavs continued to rule out Max Strus (sprained right ankle). Strus suffered the injury before the season began and is expected to miss at least another month.
How can I watch, listen, stream Cavs vs. Nets game?
Saturday night’s game can be watched locally on the FanDuel Sports Network and nationally on NBA TV. It can be heard over the radio on WMMS (100.7-FM) and WTAM (1100-AM).
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.