THE CITY OF CLEVELAND — The Nets, who began the season poorly under Steve Nash, have extended the league’s longest winning run. And its most striking reversal.
Prior to this point, the caliber of Brooklyn’s opponents and the significance of its victories were questioned. The Nets followed up their thrashing of Milwaukee on Friday with a 125-118 victory over Cleveland in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,432 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
As usual, Kevin Durant led the way with 32 points, nine rebounds, and five assists, while Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen, and Lamar Stevens failed in their attempts to stop him. T.J. Warren contributed season-highs of 23 points and eight rebounds off the bench, while Kyrie Irving scored 32 points on a season-high 7-of-11 from deep.
The Nets (22-12) moved into third place in the East, a half-game ahead of Cleveland after their ninth consecutive victory.
“We all look for meaningful matches throughout the regular season,” stated Durant. “We all enjoy the postseason, so you want as near to that level of intensity as possible during the regular season.”
Both offensively and defensively, the Nets were superior. Despite surrendering a game-high 46 points to Darius Garland, they made stops when necessary. And against the league’s best defense, they shot.573, including 18 of 30 from long range. Durant and Irving scored 30 or more points for the fifth time this season, tying the NBA record.
When asked about the remarkable success of the Nets, Jacque Vaughn provided a single phrase.
“Basketball,” Vaughn said. “We have not deviated from the maxim ‘today is today.’” Today’s most crucial objective is to win this baseball game. Every time we enter the gym, the topic is basketball: how are we going to take care of each other on the court and cover for each other? It relates to basketball.”
The Nets, who were just 2-5 under Nash, are now 20-7 since Vaughn replaced him, and 18-5 since he was named head coach.
Since the 2019 acquisitions of Durant and Irving, they resemble the squad they were always intended to be.
“There’s no reason not to view them as contenders when you consider the level of skill on that court, how dynamic they are, and what they’re capable of achieving. That is what they are, said Cavaliers head coach JB Bickerstaff.
“Basketball appears to be the most important thing. You hear less noise from other sources. It appears like every conversation is now solely about basketball. And when you have guys of the magnitude of Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons, and Kyrie Irving, if basketball is their primary objective, they will be extremely difficult to defeat. And it appears that this has been the case. I give Jacque considerable credit.”
After Donovan Mitchell’s step-back 3-pointer put the Nets down 10-9, they scored 10 consecutive points to seize a lead they would never relinquish.
With 5:22 remaining in the first quarter, Warren’s 3-pointer off a feed from Royce O’Neale set the score 19-10; by the end of the quarter, the score was 34-22. Powered by O’Neale’s 10 points, the Nets shot.565, including 5 of 9 from beyond the arc, against the league’s best defense, the Cavaliers. This set the tone for the remainder of the evening.
Simmons scored a hook shot to give the Nets a 40-29 lead after performing the grunt work on defense on offensive glass.
The Cavaliers’ (22-13) decision to double Durant sparked a 14-4 outburst for the Thunder. The 3-pointer by Darius Garland concluded the run and trimmed the Nets’ advantage to 44-43.
With 3:15 remaining in the half, the score was 46-45; however, the Nets scored the next 13 consecutive points, capped by a Warren pull-up with 1:21 remaining.
In the closing seconds of the half, Irving’s pull-up made the score 65-47 after he scored 13 points during a 19-2 run.
The Nets’ lead eventually reached 19 points, 68-49 on Irving’s 3-pointer to open the second half and 102-83 with 10 minutes remaining.
Cleveland was kept at arm’s length by Brooklyn for the remainder of the evening. Cedi Osman’s layup pushed the score to 121-115, and Garland brought Cleveland within four points with 44 seconds remaining. But the Nets won the game in the final seconds.
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